Characterization of local chemical ordering and deformation behavior in high entropy alloys by transmission electron microscopy

Short-range ordering(SRO)is one of the most important structural features of high entropy alloys(HEAs).However,the chemical and structural analyses of SROs are very difficult due to their small size,complexed compositions,and varied locations.Transmission electron microscopy(TEM)as well as its aberration correction techniques are powerful for characterizing SROs in these compositionally complex alloys.In this short communication,we summarized recent progresses regarding characterization of SROs using TEM in the field of HEAs.By using advanced TEM techniques,not only the existence of SROs was confirmed,but also the effect of SROs on the deformation mechanism was clarified.Moreover,the perspective related to application of TEM techniques in HEAs are also discussed.

Effects of operating conditions on the performance degradation and anode microstructure evolution of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

Performance degradation shortens the life of solid oxide fuel cells in practical applications.Revealing the degradation mechanism is crucial for the continuous improvement of cell durability.In this work,the effects of cell operating conditions on the terminal voltage and anode microstructure of a Ni-yttria-stabilized zirconia anode-supported single cell were investigated.The microstructure of the anode active area near the electrolyte was characterized by laser optical microscopy and focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy.Ni depletion at the anode/electrolyte interface region was observed after 100 h discharge tests.In addition,the long-term stability of the single cell was evaluated at 700℃for 3000 h.After an initial decline,the anode-supported single cell exhibits good durability with a voltage decay rate of 0.72%/kh and an electrode polarization resistance decay rate of 0.17%/kh.The main performance loss of the cell originates from the initial degradation.

Steady thermal hydraulic characteristics of nuclear steam generators based on the drift flux code model

To investigate the steady thermal hydraulic characteristics of U-tube steam generator(SG), a 1D simulation code based on the four-equation drift flux model is developed. The U-tube channels presumably consist mainly of the primary channel, secondary channel, and tube wall. In the sub-cooling regions of the primary and secondary channels, flow is simulated using the single-phase flow model, whereas that in the boiling regions of the secondary channels is simulated using the four-equation drift flux model. The first-order equations of upwind difference are derived based on the staggered grid. Steady-state thermal hydraulic parameters are obtained with a cross-iteration scheme of heat balance and natural circulation requirement. The developed code is applied to analyze the SG behavior of the Qinshan I Nuclear Power Plant under 100%, 75%, 50%, 30%, and 15% power conditions. Analysis results are then compared with the simulation results obtained using RELAP5.

Investigating core axial power distribution with multiconcentration gadolinium in PWR

Core axial power distribution is an essential topic in pressurized water reactor(PWR)reactivity control.Traditional PWRs limit stability against axial core power oscillations at a high-cycle burnup.Because the‘‘camel’’peak power shape typically occurs with increasing depletion,the approaches used for the axial power control deserve special attention.This study aims to investigate the performance of different gadolinium rod design schemes in core axial power control during power operation based on the reactivity balance strategy,and to propose new multiconcentration gadolinium rod design schemes.In the new design schemes,low-concentration gadolinium pellets are filled in the axial hump part of the gadolinium rod,and high-concentration gadolinium pellets are filled in the other parts.The impact of different gadolinium rod design schemes on the main core characteristics was evaluated using the nuclear design code package PCM developed by CGN.The results show that the new gadolinium rod design significantly impacts the core axial power shape.The new design schemes can efficiently improve the core axial power distribution along the entire cycle by reducing the core axial power peak at the end of a cycle,enhancing the reactor operation stability,and achieving a better core safety margin,revealing a sizeable potential application.

Research & design on the drive system of nuclear fuel manipulate crane

The control of nuclear fuel manipulator crane(MC) drive system is essential for its running and other systems are designed surrounding the drive system.This paper gives a brief introduction to the composition and function of MC,analyses its drive mode and control method and applies PLC to control its frequency transducer directly to help the motor work more stable.Based on the control requirements of bridge,trolley,Hoist,the control system of bridge applies a drive mode with 2-drag-2 drive model on both sides and a multi-control method to realize simultaneous runningof two sides,1-drag-l model on through-going axes and closed loop control method finish the precise location of trolley,and the using of 1-drag-l model drive mode and closed loop control method solves the protect control difficulty of hoist which stops/starts repeatedly and changes speed.

Advances in 3D printing scaffolds for peripheral nerve and spinal cord injury repair

Because of the complex nerve anatomy and limited regeneration ability of natural tissue,the current treatment effect for long-distance peripheral nerve regeneration and spinal cord injury(SCI)repair is not satisfactory.As an alternative method,tissue engineering is a promising method to regenerate peripheral nerve and spinal cord,and can provide structures and functions similar to natural tissues through scaffold materials and seed cells.Recently,the rapid development of 3D printing technology enables researchers to create novel 3D constructs with sophisticated structures and diverse functions to achieve high bionics of structures and functions.In this review,we first outlined the anatomy of peripheral nerve and spinal cord,as well as the current treatment strategies for the peripheral nerve injury and SCI in clinical.After that,the design considerations of peripheral nerve and spinal cord tissue engineering were discussed,and various 3D printing technologies applicable to neural tissue engineering were elaborated,including inkjet,extrusion-based,stereolithography,projection-based,and emerging printing technologies.Finally,we focused on the application of 3D printing technology in peripheral nerve regeneration and spinal cord repair,as well as the challenges and prospects in this research field.

Lattice Boltzmann simulation study of anode degradation in solid oxide fuel cells during the initial aging process

For present solid oxide fuel cells(SOFCs),rapid performance degradation is observed in the initial aging process,and the dis-cussion of the degradation mechanism necessitates quantitative analysis.Herein,focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy was em-ployed to characterize and reconstruct the ceramic microstructures of SOFC anodes.The lattice Boltzmann method(LBM)simulation of multiphysical and electrochemical processes in the reconstructed models was performed.Two samples collected from industrial-size cells were characterized,including a reduced reference cell and a cell with an initial aging process.Statistical parameters of the reconstructed microstructures revealed a significant decrease in the active triple-phase boundary and Ni connectivity in the aged cell compared with the reference cell.The LBM simulation revealed that activity degradation is dominant compared with microstructural degradation during the initial aging process,and the electrochemical reactions spread to the support layer in the aged cell.The microstructural and activity de-gradations are attributed to Ni migration and coarsening.

Superior corrosion resistance-dependent laser energy density in(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 high entropy alloy coating fabricated by laser cladding

(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 high entropy alloy(HEA)coatings were successfully fabricated on a substrate of Q235 steel by laser cladding technology.These(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 HEA coatings possess excellent properties,particularly corrosion resistance,which is clearly superior to that of some typical bulk HEA and common engineering alloys.In order to obtain appropriate laser cladding preparation process parameters,the effects of laser energy density on the microstructure,microhardness,and corrosion resistance of(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 HEA coating were closely studied.Results showed that as the laser energy density increases,precipitation of the Laves phase in(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 HEA coating gradually decreases,and diffusion of the Fe element in the substrate intensifies,affecting the integrity of the(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 HEA.This decreases the microhardness of(CoCrFeNi)95Nb5 HEA coatings.Moreover,the relative content of Cr2O3,Cr(OH)3,and Nb2O5 in the surface passive film of the coating decreases with increasing energy density,causing corrosion resistance to decrease.This study demonstrates the controllability of a high-performance HEA coating using laser cladding technology,which has significance for the laser cladding preparation of other CoCrFeNi-system HEA coatings.

Development and application of a multi-physics and multi-scale coupling program for lead-cooled fast reactor

In this study,a multi-physics and multi-scale coupling program,Fluent/KMC-sub/NDK,was developed based on the user-defined functions(UDF)of Fluent,in which the KMC-sub-code is a sub-channel thermal-hydraulic code and the NDK code is a neutron diffusion code.The coupling program framework adopts the"master-slave"mode,in which Fluent is the master program while NDK and KMC-sub are coupled internally and compiled into the dynamic link library(DLL)as slave codes.The domain decomposition method was adopted,in which the reactor core was simulated by NDK and KMC-sub,while the rest of the primary loop was simulated using Fluent.A simulation of the reactor shutdown process of M2LFR-1000 was carried out using the coupling program,and the code-to-code verification was performed with ATHLET,demonstrating a good agreement,with absolute deviation was smaller than 0.2%.The results show an obvious thermal stratification phenomenon during the shutdown process,which occurs 10 s after shutdown,and the change in thermal stratification phenomena is also captured by the coupling program.At the same time,the change in the neutron flux density distribution of the reactor was also obtained.

Fe-based amorphous coating prepared using high-velocity oxygen fuel and its corrosion behavior in static lead-bismuth eutectic alloy

The Fe_(949.7)Cr_(18)Mn_(1.9)Mo_(7.4)W_(1.6)B_(15.2)C_(3.8)Si_(2) amorphous coating was deposited on T91 steel substrate by using the high-velocity oxygen fuel(HVOF)spray technique to enhance the corrosion resistance of T91 stainless steel in liquid lead-bismuth eutectic(LBE).The corrosion behavior of the T91 steel and coating exposed to oxygen-saturated LBE at 400℃ for 500 h was investigated.Results showed that the T91 substrate was severely corroded and covered by a homogeneously distributed dual-layer oxide on the interface contacted to LBE,consisting of an outer magnetite layer and an inner Fe-Cr spinel layer.Meanwhile,the amorphous coating with a high glass transition temperature(Tg=550℃)and crystallization temperature(T_(x)=600℃)exhibited dramatically enhanced thermal stability and corrosion resistance.No visible LBE penetration was observed,although small amounts of Fe_(3)O_(4),Cr_(2)O_(3),and PbO were found on the coating surface.In addition,the amorphicity and interface bonding of the coating layer remained unchanged after the LBE corrosion.The Fe-based amorphous coating can act as a stable barrier layer in liquid LBE and have great application potential for long-term service in LBE-cooled fast reactors.

Thermal-hydraulic design and transient analysis of passive cooling system for CPR1000 spent fuel storage pool

This paper proposes a design of passive cooling system for CPR1000 spent fuel pool(SFP). Our design can effectively manage the SFP temperature not to exceed80 C. Then the transient analysis of the CPR1000 SFP with designed passive cooling system is carried out in station blackout(SBO) accident by the best-estimate thermal-hydraulic system code RELAP5. The simulation results show that to maintain the temperature of CPR1000 SFP under 80 C, the numbers of the SFP and air cooling heat exchangers tubes are 6627 and 19 086, respectively.The height difference between the bottom of the air cooling heat exchanger and the top of the SFP heat exchanger is3.8 m. The number of SFP heat exchanger tubes decreases as the height difference increases, while the number of the air cooling heat exchanger tubes increases. The transient analysis results show that after the SBO accident, a stable natural cooling circulation is established. The surface temperature of CPR1000 SFP increases continually until 80 C, which indicates that the design of the passive air cooling system for CPR1000 SFP is capable of removing the decay heat to maintain the temperature of the SFP around 80 C after losing the heat sink.

Study on the Elman Neural Network Operation Control Strategy of the Central Air Conditioning Chilled Water System

The stable operation of the central air conditioning water system always is a major difficulty for the control profession. Paper focus on the water system with multi variable, strong coupling, nonlinear, large time delay characteristics, presented use feed forward coupling compensation method, to eliminate the coupling effect between temperature and pressure. In this paper, the Elman neural network controller is designed for the first time, and the simulation results show that the response time of Elman neural network controller is shorter, the system is more stable and the overshoot is small.

Influence of element substitutions on poisoning behavior of ZrV_(2)alloy:theoretical and experimental investigations

A ZrV_(2)alloy is typically susceptible to poisoning by impurity gases,which causes a considerable reduction in the hydrogen storage properties of the alloy.In this study,the adsorption characteristics of oxygen on ZrV_(2)surfaces doped with Hf,Ti,and Pd are investigated,and the effect of oxygen on the hydrogen storage performance of the alloy was discussed.Subsequently,the adsorption energy,bond-length change,density of states,and differential charge density of the alloy before and after doping are analyzed using the first-principles method.The theoretical results show that Ti doping has a limited effect on the adsorption of oxygen atoms on the ZrV_(2)surface,whereas Hf doping decreases the adsorption energy of oxygen on the ZrV_(2)surface.Oxygen atoms are more difficult to adsorb at most adsorption sites on Pd-substituting surfaces,which indicates that Pd has the best anti-poisoning properties,followed by Hf.The analysis of the differential charge density and partial density of states show that the electron interaction between the oxygen atom and surface atom of the alloys is weakened,and the total energy is reduced after Hf and Pd doping.Based on theoretical calculations,the hydrogen absorption kinetics of ZrV_(2),Zr_(0.9)Hf_(0.1)V_(2),and Zr(V_(0.9)Pd_(0.1))_(2) alloys are studied in a hydrogen-oxygen mixture of 0.5 vol%O_(2) at 25℃.The experimental results show that the hydrogen storage capacities of ZrV_(2),Zr_(0.9)Hf_(0.1)V_(2),and Zr(V_(0.9)Pd_(0.1))_(2) decrease to 19%,69%,and 80%of their original values,respectively.The order of alloy resistance to 0.5 vol%O_(2) poisoning is Zr(V_(0.9)Pd_(0.1))_(2)>Zr_(0.9)Hf_(0.1)V_(2)>ZrV_(2).Pd retains its original hydrogen absorption performance to a greater extent than undoped surfaces,and it has the strongest resistance to poisoning,which is consistent with previous theoretical calculations.

Application of grey model on analyzing the passive natural circulation residual heat removal system of HTR-10

Using the grey correlation analysis,it can be concluded that the reactor pressure vessel wall temperature has the strongest effect on the passive residual heat removal system in HTR (High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor), the chimney height takes the second place,and the influence of inlet air temperature of the chimney is the least.This conclusion is the same as that analyzed by the traditional method.According to the grey model theory,the GM(1,1) and GM(1,3) model are built based on the inlet air temperature of chimney,pressure vessel temperature and the chimney height.Then the effect of three factors on the heat removal power is studied in this paper.The model plays an important role on data prediction,and is a new method for studying the heat removal power.The method can provide a new theoretical analysis to the passive residual heat removal system of HTR.

A Tetravalent Plutonium Organic Framework Containing[Pu_(2)O_(16)]Dimers as Secondary Building Units:Synthesis,Structure,and Radiation Stability

The second example of tetravalent plutonium carboxyl-based organic framework,^(242)Pu(OH)[PO[(C_(6)H_(4))COO]_(3)]·H_(2)O,termed as PuTPO(TPO=tris(4-carboxylphenyl)-phosphineoxide),was reported in this work.A series of characterizations of PuTPO,such as X-ray crystallography and solid-state UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy,were carried out to expatiate its structure and physicochemical properties.PuTPO is constructed by dimers of the plutonium-oxygen subunit of[Pu_(2)O_(16)].Characteristic peaks located at approximately 1100 nm can be considered to be the fingerprint peaks of tetravalent plutonium.While PuTPO can maintain high crystallinity within several months after synthesis,it exhibits a radiation-induced swelling effect probed by the expansion of cell parameter of b axis after self-irradiation fromα-decay of ^(242)Pu.This result enriches the inventory of tetravalent plutonium compounds and provides an insight into the irradiation resistance of metal-organic frameworks.

Helium nano-bubble bursting near the nickel surface

We have investigated the expansion and bursting of a helium nano-bubble near the surface of a nickel matrix using a molecular dynamics simulation. The helium atoms erupt from the bubble in an instantaneous and volcano-like process,which leads to surface deformation consisting of cavity formation on the surface, along with modification and atomic rearrangement at the periphery of the cavity. During the kinetic releasing process, the channel may undergo the ＂open＂ and＂close＂ states more than once due to the variation of the stress inside the nano-bubble. The ratio between the number of helium atoms and one of vacancies can directly reflect the releasing rate under different temperatures and crystallographic orientation conditions, respectively. Moreover, a special relationship between the stress and He-to-vacancy ratio is also determined. This model is tested to compare with the experimental result from Hastelloy N alloys implanted by helium ions and satisfactory agreement is obtained.

Effect of grain boundary structures on the behavior of He defects in Ni:An atomistic study

We investigated the effect of grain boundary structures on the trapping strength of HeN（N is the number of helium atoms） defects in the grain boundaries of nickel. The results suggest that the binding energy of an interstitial helium atom to the grain boundary plane is the strongest among all sites around the plane. The He_N defect is much more stable in nickel bulk than in the grain boundary plane. Besides, the binding energy of an interstitial helium atom to a vacancy is stronger than that to a grain boundary plane. The binding strength between the grain boundary and the HeN defect increases with the defect size. Moreover, the binding strength of the HeN defect to the Σ3（112）[110] grain boundary becomes much weaker than that to other grain boundaries as the defect size increases.

Oxide formation mechanism of a corrosion-resistant CZ1 zirconium alloy

Tailoring microstructure and microchemistry by altering elemental compositions and thermomechanical treatment parameters enables superior corrosion performance in zirconium alloys for nuclear applications.However,our understanding of the relationship between various defects and the corrosion process remains limited in the newly developed zirconium alloys.Here we report the oxide formation mechanism of a CZ1 zirconium alloy with corrosion resistance surpassing many other zirconium alloy systems,such as Zircaloy-4 and Zr-1Nb-1Sn alloys.Autoclave experiments of CZ1 alloy and Zr1Nb-1Sn model alloy were performed in 360°C water for up to 820 d.We quantitively determined oxide phases by transmission Kikuchi diffraction(TKD)and examined lateral cracks,nano-porosity,and second-phase particles in oxide scales by transmission electron microscopy(TEM).Compared to the Zr-1Nb-1Sn model alloy,CZ1 alloy with lower Nb and Sn concentrations has shown smaller and lower-density lateral cracks but slightly larger oxide grains,reducing the diffusion route for oxidating species.Using analytical scanning and transmission electron microscopy,we demonstrate that due to the lower content of Sn(∼0.9 wt.%),there is less tetragonal ZrO_(2) phase formed in the oxide,and the level of tetragonal to the monoclinic phase transition is reduced.Although the Nb content(0.1 wt.%–0.3 wt.%)is lower than the solid solution limit of Nb in Zr,by introducing minor elements such as Fe,Cr,and Cu,there are still a reasonable number of second-phase particles to relieve the high stress associated with the metal-to-oxide transformation.These mechanisms have substantially changed the density and distribution of lateral cracks in the oxide,thus reducing the corrosion rate of zirconium alloys.