Response of lead metaniobate acoustic emission sensors to gamma irradiation

Holbert, Keith E.; Sankaranarayanan, Sriram; McCready, S. S.

doi:10.1109/tns.2005.860708

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…[28][29][30][31][32][33] Candidate magnetostrictive and piezoelectric materials must, therefore, be carefully selected; and transducer assemblies must be carefully designed. As discussed below, only limited radiation effects data are available to guide this process.…”

Section: Neet In-pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-fy 2013 Status Repmentioning

confidence: 99%

NEET In-Pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-FY-2013

Daw¹,

Rempe²,

Palmer³

et al. 2013

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SUMMARYSeveral programs funded by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE), such as the Fuel Cycle Research and Development, Advanced Reactor Concepts, Light Water Reactor Sustainability, and Next Generation Nuclear Plant programs, are investigating new fuels and materials for advanced and existing reactors. A key objective of such programs is to understand the performance of these fuels and materials when irradiated. The Nuclear Energy Enabling Technology (NEET) Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) in-pile instrumentation development activities are focused upon addressing cross-cutting needs for DOE-NE irradiation testing by providing higher fidelity, real-time data, with increased accuracy and resolution from smaller, compact sensors that are less intrusive.Ultrasonic technologies offer the potential to measure a range of parameters, including geometry changes, temperature, crack initiation and growth, gas pressure and composition, and microstructural changes under harsh irradiation test conditions. There are two primary issues that currently limit in-pile deployment of ultrasonic sensors. The first is transducer survivability. The ability of ultrasonic transducer materials to maintain their useful properties during an irradiation must be demonstrated. The second issue is signal processing. Ultrasonic testing is typically performed in a lab or field environment, where the sensor and sample are accessible. The harsh nature of in-pile testing and the variety of measurements that are desired demand that an enhanced signal processing capability be developed to make in-pile ultrasonic sensors viable. To address these issues, the NEET ASI program is funding the Ultrasonic Transducer Irradiation and Signal Processing Enhancements project, which is a collaborative effort between the Idaho National Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Argonne National Laboratory, and the Pennsylvania State University (PSU). As summarized within this document, significant work has been accomplished during the first two years of this three year project:• Transducer Irradiation Test -The first task of this project supports efforts to develop a test capsule design and define irradiation conditions for evaluating most promising candidate piezoelectric and magnetostrictive transducer materials and designs. In July FY-2012, the ATR NSUF announced that a proposal led by PSU for irradiating ultrasonic transducers was selected, and the irradiation would occur in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nuclear Research Reactor (MITR). Subsequent project efforts have focused on developing a capsule design and on identifying appropriate test conditions, identifying transducers for inclusion in the capsule, appropriate post-irradiation examinations, and performing out-of-pile laboratory tests needed to support the irradiation. As documented in this report, the irradiation test builds on prior research and exceeds previous tests in terms of the number of materials tested and accumulated fluence. The pur...

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Section: Neet In-pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-fy 2013 Status Repmentioning

confidence: 99%

NEET In-Pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-FY-2013

Daw¹,

Rempe²,

Palmer³

et al. 2013

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“…Several studies, as indicated above, have examined the performance of PZT and other lead based piezoelectrics when exposed to radiation and high temperatures. 85,92,[94][95][96] The lead-based piezoelectric have relatively low Curie temperatures (~ 320°C / ~610°F). Manufacturers generally recommend a maximum operating temperature of half the Curie temperature (~160°C /~ 320°F).…”

Section: New In-pile Instrumentation To Support Fuel Cycle Research Amentioning

confidence: 99%

New In-pile Instrumentation to Support Fuel Cycle Research and Development

Rempe¹,

MacLean²,

Schley³

et al. 2011

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SUMMARYNew and enhanced nuclear fuels are a key enabler for new and improved reactor technologies. For example, the goals of the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) will not be met without irradiations successfully demonstrating the safety and reliability of new fuels. Likewise, fuel reliability has become paramount in ensuring the competitiveness of nuclear power plants. Recently, the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy (DOE-NE) launched a new direction in fuel research and development that emphasizes an approach relying on first principle models to develop optimized fuel designs that offer significant improvements over current fuels. To facilitate this approach, high fidelity, real-time, data are essential for characterizing the performance of new fuels during irradiation testing. A three-year strategic research program has been initiated for developing the required test vehicles with sensors of unprecedented accuracy and resolution for obtaining the data needed to characterize three-dimensional changes in fuel microstructure during irradiation testing. When implemented, this strategy will yield test capsule designs that are instrumented with new sensor technologies for irradiations at facilities primarily relied upon by the Fuel Cycle Research and Development (FCR&D) program, the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Prior laboratory testing, and as needed, irradiation testing of sensors in these capsules will have been completed to give sufficient confidence that the irradiation tests will yield the required data.From the onset of this instrumentation development effort, it was recognized that obtaining these sensors must draw upon the expertise of a wide-range of organizations not currently supporting nuclear fuels research. Hence, a draft version of this document was developed to provide necessary background information related to fuel irradiation testing, desired parameters for detection, and an overview of currently available in-pile instrumentation. Then, a workshop was held in which U.S. and foreign experts from fuels, irradiation, and instrumentation fields participated. Prior to this workshop, copies of a draft version of this document were distributed to participants to stimulate expert interactions at this meeting. During the workshop, candidate sensor technologies identified in this document were discussed and ranked by the experts using agreed upon criteria. The final version of this document describes the consensus reached during the workshop with respect to recommendations for the path forward for accomplishing the goals of this research program.Based on the activities completed to develop this strategic plan, it is recommended that the FCR&D instrumentation development program be initiated as a three year program that includes the following three tasks:• Ultrasonics-Based Evaluations -In this task, laboratory evaluations and necessary irradiations will be completed to demonstrate the viability of this technology for in-pile applications. Specif...

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“…A summary review of gamma and neutron radiation damage in piezoelectric materials is given by Holbert et al (2004;. In general, inorganic piezoelectric materials (both crystalline and sintered ceramics) show minimal permanent damage due to gamma irradiation.…”

Section: Radiation Damage In Piezoelectric Transducersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Experimental data have not been found for neutron irradiation damage in lithium niobate. However because LiNbO 3 exhibits a much higher T c (>1000°C) than PZT (<400°C), it would be the preferred transducer material for inservice monitoring in a SFR vessel where operating temperatures ~ 500°C are encountered (Smith 1970;Holbert et al 2004;Holbert et al 2005).…”

Section: Radiation Damage In Piezoelectric Transducersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under-Sodium Viewing: A Review of Ultrasonic Imaging Technology for Liquid Metal Fast Reactors

Griffin¹,

Posakony²,

Chien³

et al. 2009

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Executive SummaryThis current report is a summary of information obtained in the "Information Capture" task of the U.S. DOE-funded "Under Sodium Viewing (USV) Project." The goal of the multi-year USV project is to design, build, and demonstrate a state-of-the-art prototype ultrasonic viewing system tailored for periodic reactor core in-service monitoring and maintenance inspections. The study seeks to optimize system parameters, improve performance, and re-establish this key technology area which will be required to support any new U.S. liquid-metal cooled fast reactors.The earliest information presented herein dates from the early 1970s when the DOE Hanford Site and Argonne National Laboratory were supporting instrumentation development for sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). The most recent U.S. advanced liquid metal reactor (ALMR) design was the Power Reactor Innovative Small Module (PRISM). The U.S.-sponsored design effort was discontinued in 1995; however, General Electric (GE) continued development up to year 2000. A number of other countries (especially India, Japan, France, and Great Britain) have built and operated fast, metal-cooled reactors and supporting diagnostic instrumentation for in-service inspections. Piezoelectric transducers have been reported in systems used to: (i) acquire in-core images; (ii) perform ultrasonic NDE inspections; and (iii) measure liquid sodium levels, detect structural anomalies, and detect leaks.This study has served to identify important design parameters and options for an ultrasonic USV system. These include:1. The preferred piezoelectric material for liquid sodium temperatures up to 260°C is lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Higher Curie temperature (T c ) materials such as lithium niobate and lead metaniobate have also been used.2. Most demonstrated USV ultrasonic transducers are of the direct sodium immersion type. Only a few designs use an ultrasonic waveguide to isolate the transducer from the molten sodium.3. Poor sodium wetting of the transducer face has been an issue. Degraded wetting results in inefficient mechanical (acoustic) coupling between the transducer and the liquid sodium working fluid. Solutions have required either coating the transducer face (e.g., with evaporated or sputtered gold) or bonding a metal diaphragm to the transducer face (e.g., stainless steel or nickel).4. Thermal shock damage to the piezoelectric transducer is an important issue. Fracture of piezoelectric ceramics due to high thermal gradients/transients or thermal expansion mismatches at the transducer face or backing layer must be considered early in the design process.5. Cable length between the transducer and ultrasonic transceiver has a major impact on received signal amplitude. The minute electrical charges generated by the piezoelectric transducer dictate use of lowcapacitance, radiation-resistant, high-temperature cables, and cable length must be kept as short as possible. Impedance matching and signal conditioning must be considered.6. To date, most ultrasonic USV systems have ...

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Response of lead metaniobate acoustic emission sensors to gamma irradiation

Cited by 27 publications

References 30 publications

NEET In-Pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-FY-2013

NEET In-Pile Ultrasonic Sensor Enablement-FY-2013

New In-pile Instrumentation to Support Fuel Cycle Research and Development

Under-Sodium Viewing: A Review of Ultrasonic Imaging Technology for Liquid Metal Fast Reactors

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