Speaker
Description
Recent research at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has advanced several technologies usable for structural health monitoring (SHM) in existing and advanced reactors. Advanced SHM capabilities will enable safer operation of existing and advanced reactors by allowing for early detection of operating condition changes caused by wear or damage to essential components. These reactors will also be made more efficient as they may be safely run closer to regulatory limits. A new capability at INL was utilized to demonstrate electric field assisted sintering (EFAS), a process for embedding optical fibers into structural components. EFAS uses Joule heating to heat both a die press and a powdered material that is then sintered. Controlling the current and pressure affords fine control of the final part. The embedded sensors can then monitor the condition of the part via acoustic strain monitoring. After the embedding is complete, the embedded structures and sensors will be evaluated to verify sensor integrity through heat cycling to failure, enabling their maximum operating temperatures to be identified. INL also developed a high-temperature, radiation-tolerant acoustic emission (AE) sensor based on radiation hard magnetostrictive materials for use in-core during irradiation testing and SHM. This AE sensor will operate at higher temperatures and to higher fluences than comparable commercially available sensors. Boise State University has developed several multiphysics models to accurately predict the behavior and performance of both magnetostrictive and piezoelectric transducers and has also developed methods of producing feedstock and printing transducers from proven radiation-tolerant ultrasonic transducers, using magnetostrictive Galfenol and piezoelectric lithium niobate.
