ESR melting under constant voltage conditions

Typical industrial ESR melting practice includes operation at a constant current. This constant current operation is achieved through the use of a power supply whose output provides this constant current characteristic. Analysis of this melting mode indicates that the ESR process under conditions of constant current is inherently unstable. Analysis also indicates that ESR melting under the condition of a constant applied voltage yields a process which is inherently stable. This paper reviews the process stability arguments for both constant current and constant voltage operation. Explanations are given as to why there is a difference between the two modes of operation. Finally, constant voltage process considerations such as melt rate control, response to electrode anomalies and impact on solidification will be discussed

Laser engineered net shaping for direct fabrication of metal components

Sandia National Laboratories is developing a new technology to fabricate three-dimensional metallic components directly from CAD solid models. This process, called Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS{trademark}), exhibits enormous potential to revolutionize the way in which metal parts, such as complex prototypes, tooling, and small lot production parts, are produced. To perform the process, metal powder is injected into a molten pool created by a focused, high powered laser beam. Simultaneously, the substrate on which the deposition is occurring is scanned under the beam/powder interaction zone to fabricate the desired cross-sectional geometry. Consecutive layers are sequentially deposited, thereby producing a three-dimensional metal component

Melt processing of radioactive waste: A technical overview

Nuclear operations have resulted in the accumulation of large quantities of contaminated metallic waste which are stored at various DOE, DOD, and commercial sites under the control of DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This waste will accumulate at an increasing rate as commercial nuclear reactors built in the 1950s reach the end of their projected lives, as existing nuclear powered ships become obsolete or unneeded, and as various weapons plants and fuel processing facilities, such as the gaseous diffusion plants, are dismantled, repaired, or modernized. For example, recent estimates of available Radioactive Scrap Metal (RSM) in the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex have suggested that as much as 700,000 tons of contaminated 304L stainless steel exist in the gaseous diffusion plants alone. Other high-value metals available in the DOE complex include copper, nickel, and zirconium. Melt processing for the decontamination of radioactive scrap metal has been the subject of much research. A major driving force for this research has been the possibility of reapplication of RSM, which is often very high-grade material containing large quantities of strategic elements. To date, several different single and multi-step melting processes have been proposed and evaluated for use as decontamination or recycling strategies. Each process offers a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately, no single melt processing scheme is optimum for all applications since processes must be evaluated based on the characteristics of the input feed stream and the desired output. This paper describes various melt decontamination processes and briefly reviews their application in developmental studies, full scale technical demonstrations, and industrial operations

Radioactive scrap metal decontamination technology assessment report

Within the DOE complex there exists a tremendous quantity of radioactive scrap metal. As an example, it is estimated that within the gaseous diffusion plants there exists in excess of 700,000 tons of contaminated stainless steel. At present, valuable material is being disposed of when it could be converted into a high quality product. Liquid metal processing represents a true recycling opportunity for this material. By applying the primary production processes towards the material`s decontamination and re-use, the value of the strategic resource is maintained while drastically reducing the volume of material in need of burial. Potential processes for the liquid metal decontamination of radioactively contaminated metal are discussed and contrasted. Opportunities and technology development issues are identified and discussed. The processes compared are: surface decontamination; size reduction, packaging and burial; melting technologies; electric arc melting; plasma arc centrifugal treatment; air induction melting; vacuum induction melting; and vacuum induction melting and electroslag remelting

Closed loop control techniques for the growth of single crystal turbine components

Analysis of processes used for the production of single crystal turbine components reveals significant shortcomings. Inadequate consideration has been made of the fact the system is cooling dominated and that the amount of cooling tends to increase as the emissive cooling area expands during the process. Experimental evidence suggests that during processing, this increased cooling causes the solidification interface to move away from the baffle and become curved. The motion of the interface results in a decrease in the solidification gradient. The combination of these actions can result in variations in PDAS (primary dendrite arm spacing), grain misalignment and the production of defects. It is shown that despite this tendency, microstructural stabilization may be achieved through the use of the heat of fusion as an internal process heat source

Monochromatic imaging studies of sustained metal vapor arcs burning on 150 mm diameter molten iron electrodes

Monochromatic imaging was used to investigate the excited-state density distributions of Fe and Fe{sup +} in the inter-electrode gap region of a 3,100 A dc metal vapor arc burning between molten iron surfaces in a vacuum arc furnace. Multiple images were acquired at four wavelengths. The images were corrected and Abel inverted to yield the absolute radial intensity distributions for Fe and Fe{sup +} in the inter-electrode gap region. The results show a structured, axisymmetric plasma consisting of a high density `core` of Fe{sup +} emitters centered between the electrode surfaces situated against a relatively broad, flat excited-state Fe distribution

Towards an Extended Model of User Interface Adaptation: The Isatine Framework

Abstract. In order to cover the complete process of user interface adaptation, this paper extends Dieterich’s taxonomy of user interface adaptation by specializing Norman’s theory of action into the ISATINE framework. This framework decomposes user interface adaptation into seven stages of adaptation: goals for adaptation, initiative, specification, application, transition, interpretation, and evaluation. The purpose of each stage is defined and could be ensured respectively by the user, the interactive system, a third party, or any combination of these entities. The potential collaboration between these entities suggests defining additional support operations such as negotiation, transfer, and delegation. The variation and the complexity of adaptation configurations induced by the framework invited us to introduce a multi-agent adaptation engine, whose each agent is responsible for achieving one stage at a time (preferably) or a combination of them (in practice). In this engine, the adaptation rules are explicitly encoded in a knowledge base, from which they can be retrieved on demand and executed. In particular, the application of adaptation rules is ensured by examinin