Graham A. Whitlow

Materials behavior in lithium systems for fusion reactor applications

Abstract The corrosion behavior of austenitic and ferritic steels in flowing 538°C (1000°F) lithium is presented as weight loss vs. Time data. The measured weight losses are shown to be due to loss of alloying elements from the near surface regions. Corrosion rates of the austenitic alloys are from 3 to 5 times greater than the ferritic alloys examined, but both alloy types exhibit a “downstream effect”.

Impurity monitoring and control in liquid lithium

Abstract Preliminary designs have been proposed for on-line devices to continuously monitor the oxygen and hydrogen levels in liquid lithium systems. Prototype galvanic oxygen meters and diffusion-membrane hydrogen meters have been experimentally tested in lithium and initial results indicate their feasibility.

Silver encased high temperature superconductor ribbons produced by rolling

Ribbons of silver/yttrium-barium-copper oxide/silver (Ag/YBCO/Ag), nominally 0.01 in. (0.25 mm) thick, have been fabricated by unidirectional rolling and their resulting microstructures and superconducting properties evaluated. The influence of a postfabrication sinter/oxygen replenishment anneal on their properties has been determined. Grain alignment/preferred orientation of the YBCO core was observed. Typical transport critical-current densities measured in zero field at 4.2 and 77 K were 600 and 125 A/cm/sup 2/, respectively. Preliminary experiments on the bismuth-containing high-temperature superconductors have indicated that codeformation of a silver composite billet by rolling to thin strip is easily accomplished. >