Results of fracture mechanics analyses of the ederer cranes in the device assembly facility using reduced static fracture-toughness values

The effects of a decreased static fracture-toughness value from that used in the previous fracture-mechanics analyses of the Ederer cranes in the Device Assembly Facility were examined to see what effects, if any, would be exerted on the fatigue crack growth and fracture behavior of the cranes. In particular, the behavior of the same 3 critical locations on the lower flanges of the load beams of the Ederer 5 ton and 4 ton cranes, were examined, with the reduced static fracture-toughness value

Results of fracture mechanics analyses of the Adorer cranes in the device assembly facility using actual, rather than conservative, stress-components

Fracture mechanics analyses were done on 3 critical locations on the lower flange of the load beam of the Ederer 5 ton and 4 ton cranes in the D.A.F. Facility. This was done to determine appropriate flaw sizes for NDE detection during periodic inspection, and appropriate inspection intervals

Integrated Corrosion Facility for long-term testing of candidate materials for high-level radioactive waste containment

A long-term-testing facility, the Integrated Corrosion Facility (I.C.F.), is being developed to investigate the corrosion behavior of candidate construction materials for high-level-radioactive waste packages for the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Corrosion phenomena will be characterized in environments considered possible under various scenarios of water contact with the waste packages. The testing of the materials will be conducted both in the liquid and high humidity vapor phases at 60 and 90{degrees}C. Three classes of materials with different degrees of corrosion resistance will be investigated in order to encompass the various design configurations of waste packages. The facility is expected to be in operation for a minimum of five years, and operation could be extended to longer times if warranted. A sufficient number of specimens will be emplaced in the test environments so that some can be removed and characterized periodically. The corrosion phenomena to be characterized are general, localized, galvanic, and stress corrosion cracking. The long-term data obtained from this study will be used in corrosion mechanism modeling, performance assessment, and waste package design. Three classes of materials are under consideration. The corrosion resistant materials are high-nickel alloys and titanium alloys; the corrosion allowance materials are low-alloy and carbon steels; and the intermediate corrosion resistant materials are copper-nickel alloys

Bobbin-Tool Friction-Stir Welding of Thick-Walled Aluminum Alloy Pressure Vessels

It was desired to assemble thick-walled Al alloy 2219 pressure vessels by bobbin-tool friction-stir welding. To develop the welding-process, mechanical-property, and fitness-for-service information to support this effort, extensive friction-stir welding-parameter studies were conducted on 2.5 cm. and 3.8 cm. thick 2219 Al alloy plate. Starting conditions of the plate were the fully-heat-treated (-T62) and in the annealed (-O) conditions. The former condition was chosen with the intent of using the welds in either the 'as welded' condition or after a simple low-temperature aging treatment. Since preliminary stress-analyses showed that stresses in and near the welds would probably exceed the yield-strength of both 'as welded' and welded and aged weld-joints, a post-weld solution-treatment, quenching, and aging treatment was also examined. Once a suitable set of welding and post-weld heat-treatment parameters was established, the project divided into two parts. The first part concentrated on developing the necessary process information to be able to make defect-free friction-stir welds in 3.8 cm. thick Al alloy 2219 in the form of circumferential welds that would join two hemispherical forgings with a 102 cm. inside diameter. This necessitated going to a bobbin-tool welding-technique to simplify the tooling needed to react the large forces generated in friction-stir welding. The bobbin-tool technique was demonstrated on both flat-plates and plates that were bent to the curvature of the actual vessel. An additional issue was termination of the weld, i.e. closing out the hole left at the end of the weld by withdrawal of the friction-stir welding tool. This was accomplished by friction-plug welding a slightly-oversized Al alloy 2219 plug into the termination-hole, followed by machining the plug flush with both the inside and outside surfaces of the vessel. The second part of the project involved demonstrating that the welds were fit for the intended service. This involved determining the room-temperature tensile and elastic-plastic fracture-toughness properties of the bobbin-tool friction-stir welds after a post-weld solution-treatment, quenching, and aging heat-treatment. These mechanical properties were used to conduct fracture-mechanics analyses to determine critical flaw sizes. Phased-array and conventional ultrasonic non-destructive examination was used to demonstrate that no flaws that match or exceed the calculated critical flaw-sizes exist in or near the friction-stir welds

Use of fusion-welding techniques in fabrication of a superconducting-magnet thermal-shield system

Success of the thermal shield system was demonstrated by the results of acceptance tests performed with the magnet and all its ancillary equipment. During these tests the thermal shield system was: (1) thermally cycled several times from 300/sup 0/K to 77/sup 0/K; (2) pressure cycled several times from 0 to 5 atmospheres; (3) operated for more than 500 hours at 77/sup 0/K and in a vacuum environment of less than 10/sup -5/ torr; (4) operated in a magnetic field up to 6.0 Telsa; (5) exposed to a rapidly collapsing magnetic field of more than 250 gauss per second; (6) drained of all LN/sub 2/ in a few minutes, without any weld failures. The successful (and relatively problem free) operation of the magnet system validates the choice of the welding processes used, as well as their execution in both shop and field environments

Mirror fusion test facility magnet system. Final design report

Information is given on each of the following topics: (1) magnet description, (2) superconducting manufacture, (3) mechanical behavior of conductor winding, (4) coil winding, (5) thermal analysis, (6) cryogenic system, (7) power supply system, (8) structural analysis, (9) structural finite element analysis refinement, (10) structural case fault analysis, and (11) structural metallurgy. (MOW

Results of fracture mechanics analyses of the Ederer cranes in the Device Assembly Facility: The effect of using a general expression for fatigue crack growth of the crane material

The subject analyses were conducted on 3 critical locations on the lower flange of the load-beam of the Ederer 5 ton and 4 ton cranes in the D.A.F. facility. An expression for the fatigue-crack growth behavior of ferritic-pearlitic constructional steels (``Barsom Equation``) was used in place of the previously used equation to describe fatigue-crack growth behavior in this steel (base-line equation) to evaluate the effects of varying the fatigue-crack growth rate. Results appear that: (1) Propagation of a 1/4-in. long flaw, previously undetected by NDE, to a length sufficient to cause failure of either flange, should not occur in at least 70.8 times the postulated operating scenario, down from 104 times as calculated using the base line equation. (2) Should each crane undergo annual inspection, any surface flaw with a length greater than 1.10 in. should be removed and repaired by qualified and approved repair procedures. This flaw length has increased from a surface flaw length of 0.9 in. (base line equation). (3) The indicated change in empirically measured fatigue-crack growth equation did not adversely affect the previous work on modeling fatigue performance of these cranes

Structural materials for fusion magnets

Of major technical and cost impact to Magnetic Fusion Energy development are the materials for the magnet structure. Those materials and fabrication techniques that are attractive to fusion magnets are discussed and relative comparisons made. Considerations such as strength, toughness, and joining techniques are balanced against recommended design criteria to reach an optimum design. Several examples of material selection are cited for large fusion magnets such as Base II, the Mirror Fusion Test Facility, the Toroidal Fusion Test Facility, and the Large Coil Project

Failure analysis of Ti - 15% Ta getter wire used for sublimation in the vacuum chambers of the Tandem Mirror Experiment

The Tandem Mirror Experiment uses Ti-15% Ta getter wire for sublimation in the vacuum chambers in which the magnets are located. These wires have failed prematurely in service, resulting in increased costs and downtime. We have used optical metallography to show that the reason for these failures was the cycling of the material through the alpha-beta transition temperature, causing alpha-titanium precipitation at the grain boundaries, depression of the melting temperatures of those boundaries, and the subsequent melting of those boundaries in areas where the wires had achieved localized higher temperatures

Creep of 304 LN and 316 L stainless steels at cryogenic temperatures

Creep behavior of Type 304 LN plate and 316 L shielded-metal-arc (SMA)-deposited stainless weld metal was investigated at 4/sup 0/K. Testing was performed at constant load in a creep machine with a cryostat designed for long-term stability. Both transient and steady-state creep were observed during tests lasting over 2000 hours. Steady-state creep rates were much greater than expected from extrapolations of 300-K creep data. Creep rates on the order of 10/sup -10/ s/sup -1/ were observed at stresses around the yield stress for both materials. The stress exponent under these conditions if approx.2.3. Possible creep mechanisms at this temperature and the impact of these results on the design of engineering structures for long-term structural stability at cryogenic temperatures are discussed