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Nekane Galarza, Diego de Miguel, Nerea Ordas, Eduardo Moreno, Iñigo Iturriza, Benjamín Rubio, Ainhoa Gorrotxategi, Peter Nation, José M. Guillemary, Fernando Samaniego

11th International Symposium on Fusion Nuclear Technology.

16-20 September 2013. Barcelona. Spain

Introduction

The Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) process is a fusion welding method that allows to join both similar and dissimilar materials. First Wall Panels (FW) of the ITER blankets

structure, composed of 316L Stainless Steel (SS), copper alloy (CuCrZr) and Beryllium (Be) will be joined using this technique due to the complexity of the structure,

material properties and the functional requirements of the blankets. According to ITER recommendations, ultrasonic examination shall be carried out in order to evaluate

these joints.

Ultrasonic inspection of HIPed 11 samples has been done in order to evaluate the quality of joints between CuCrZr/Be, Be/SS and Be/Cu materials. Different

parameters such us coating, temperature and can materials have been evaluated in the HIP process in order to find out the best joint quality and conditions. The aim of

this work is to evaluate the quality of the joints manufactured in different HIP conditions using ultrasonic immersion technique.

Materials and Methods Results and discussion C-SCAN IMAGES

Results obtained are presented in the next two tables, one corresponding

CuCrZr/Be (B1) bond and the other one regarding Be/SS (B2) and Be/Cu (B3)

bonds.

Discussion

• The material of the can has not any influence in the bonding quality; but the best will SS because of its weldability, low reaction with Be and high mechanical strength.

• Regarding the coating, no clear conclusion can be obtained, it is necessary the evaluation of more samples, however, the preliminary results show that Cu and Ti-Cu

coatings seem to be the best.

• The results presented in this report are qualitative evaluations, for future evaluation there will be manufactured reference blocks in order to perform quantitative

evaluation. These blocks will be done according to UNE-EN ISO 2400:2013 [4] as it is described in RCC-MR [5].

References [1] Arthur W. Stange et al., Possible health risks from low level exposure to beryllium, Toxicology. Volume 111, Issues 1–3, 17 July 1996, Pages 213–224

[2] Paul W. Wambach, J. Claml. Beryllium Health Effects, Exposure Limitsand Regulatory Requirements. Journal of Chemical Health and Safety. Vol 15, Issue 4, July-August 2008. p. 5-12.

[3] E.E. Jamieson.Ultrasonic Evaluation of Beryllium-Cupper Diffusion Bonds. Federal Manufacturing and Technologies. Prepared under contract DE-ACo4-76-DP00613 for the United States Department of Energy. 2010.

[4] UNE-EN ISO 2400:2013. Non-destructive testing - Ultrasonic testing - Specification for calibration block No. 1 (ISO 2400:2012)

[5] RCC-MR. Design and Construction Rules for Mechanical Components of Nuclear Installations. Section 3: Examination Methods.

QUALITY EVALUATION OF HIP JOINTS USING ULTRASONIC

TESTING

B1 B2 B1 B3

S1

C1

S2

C5

S3

C16

S4

C20

S7

C22

S9

Figure 4. C-scan images corresponding

CuCrZr/Be (B1), Be/SS (B2) and Be/Cu (B3)

bonds

Figure 1. SS and Cu can

samples, respectively

SAMPLES

The samples are composed of two cylindrical

pieces made by CuCrZr and Be that are joined

by HIP. Due to the toxicity of the beryllium [1,2]

the HIP process was done after introducing

these two materials into a can made by SS or

Cu.

Different coatings (composition and thick) are

applied by PVD before HIPing in order to

avoid the formation of brittle Cu beryllides and

to improve mechanical strength. Three joints

have been tested: CuCrZr/Be and Be/Cu or

Be/SS depending on the can.

EQUIPMENT & PROCEDURE

This project has received funding from the Centro para el Desarrollo

Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) under Grant agreement no: IDC-20101156

The equipment used is: a focused

immersion transducer, ultrasonic

pulse-receiver and Acoustic Intensity

Measurement System. (fig.2)

The echoes corresponding different

bonds are identified and the gain is

adjusted at 35% Full Screen High

(FSH) according to the United States

Department of Energy report [3] (fig.

3).

This last value avoids grain echo

noise and establishes a background Figure 2. Experimental set-up scheme

• C1 seems to be the sample with the best bonding quality, the only one

who has Cu coating.

• Samples with Ti-Cu or Ti-Cr-Cu coatings have a ring-shaped lack of

diffusion: it indicates that there exists less diffusion in these areas

independently of the thick of the coating used. The level of the lack of

diffusion changes depending on the sample.

• Regarding the bondings B2 and B3, all the samples suggest a good

diffusion; however, in C22 it seems to be a lack of diffusion in a little area.

It is necessary to highlight the uniformity of the bond in S4, C1 and C20.

Figure 3. Windowing and 35% FHS definition

which will be the reference to identify if it is an imperfect bond or not.

This allows to consider the values above the green color as lack of diffusion at

different levels depending on the color (yellow will be almost perfect bound whereas

red or purple are considered areas with diffusion absence).