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DOE OSTI2023

Casting and Characterization of U-50Zr

Uranium alloyed with 50 wt% zirconium (U-50Zr) is a proposed light water reactor (LWR) nuclear fuel by Lightbridge Corporation (LTBR). The proposed method for making the U-50Zr alloy is to arc-melt master alloys and then remelt in a vacuum induction melter (VIM) to consolidate the material and cast into an intermediate shape. After casting, the material will eventually need to be formed into a desired fuel shape. The work discussed in this report resulted from a joint effort between Ltbr and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNN) to investigate a 500g – 1kg scale casting process to produce the U-50Zr alloy in the desired δ-UZr 2 phase and characterize the impurities and microstructure that result from the casting process. Master alloys were fabricated in an arc melter, then five castings were carried out in a VIM with multiple inert coating and crucible materials to find an appropriate combination. Both ZrO 2 and graphite crucibles were used and different combinations of Y 2 O 3 , CaZrO 3 , and TiC to identify which would contain the molten metal with the least reaction. On each casting, the C, O, N, H impurities were analyzed as well as the phase by x-ray diffraction and microstructure. Of the five castings, two resulted in majority of δ-UZr 2 phase-pure material and had impurity levels within acceptable ranges. The two most successful castings utilized a graphite crucible with a TiC undercoating and a Y 2 O 3 overcoat. The O and N levels were below 1000 ppm and the C content was variable but did not result in measurable carbide formation. The highest success casting resulted in an average of 282 ppm C, 567 ppm O, 217 ppm N and 79 ppm H. This casting's crucible and inert coating material was repeated with slightly different casting parameters and resulted in higher C numbers but similar phase identification. The differences between each casting are discussed and recommendations are made for future experiments to better decide on a casting process to go forward with.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Development of High-Performance Cast Crankshafts. Final Technical Report

The objective of this project was to develop technologies that would enable the production of cast crankshafts that can replace high performance forged steel crankshafts. To achieve this, the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of the new material needs to be 850 MPa with a desired minimum Yield Strength (YS; 0.2% offset) of 615 MPa and at least 10% elongation. Perhaps more challenging, the cast material needs to be able to achieve sufficient local fatigue properties to satisfy the durability requirements in today’s high performance gasoline and diesel engine applications. The project team focused on the development of cast steel alloys for application in crankshafts to take advantage of the higher stiffness over other potential material choices. The material and process developed should be able to produce high-performance crankshafts at no more than 110% of the cost of current production cast units, perhaps the most difficult objective to achieve. To minimize costs, the primary alloy design strategy was to design compositions that can achieve the required properties with minimal alloying and post-casting heat treatments. An Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) based approach was utilized, rather than relying only on traditional trial-and-error methods, which has been proven to accelerate alloy development time. Prototype melt chemistries designed using ICME were cast as test specimens and characterized iteratively to develop an alloy design within a stage-gate process. Standard characterization and material testing was done to validate the alloy performance against design targets and provide feedback to material design and manufacturing process models. Finally, the project called for Caterpillar and General Motors (GM) to develop optimized crankshaft designs using the final material and manufacturing processing path developed. A multi-disciplinary effort was to integrate finite element analyses by engine designers and geometry-specific casting simulations with existing materials models to optimize crankshaft cost and performance. Prototype crankshafts of the final design were to be produced and validated using laboratory bench testing and on-engine durability testing. ICME process simulation tools were used to investigate a broad range of processing concepts. These concepts included casting orientation, various mold and core materials, and various filling and feeding strategies. Each crankshaft was first simulated without gating and risers, which is termed natural solidification. The natural solidification results were used as a baseline for strategy development of each concept. Casting process simulations and ICME tools were proven to be reasonable predictors of real world results. Potential alloys were developed that could meet the project material property goals with appropriate normalization and temper treatments. For the alloys considered, post-normalization temper treatments proved to be necessary to achieve the desired yield strengths and elongations and appropriate heat treatments were designed using ICME tools. The experimental data of all the alloys were analyzed in combination with ICME tools to establish chemistry-process-structure relations. Several GM small gas engine (SGE) crankshafts were successfully cast in sand molds using two different sprue, runner, gate, riser, chill designs. These crankshafts were cast in two different steel alloys developed during the project, but casting finishing (e.g. riser removal) remains a cost challenge. A long list of future work was left unfinished when this project was unexpectedly terminated.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2018

Process Development and Optimization of a Direct Cast U-6Nb 250 mm Hemispherical Component

Direct Casting is the process of casting a near-net shape part of U-6wt%Nb in a multi-zone VIM furnace for subsequent heat treatment and machining in to a final component. This report describes work to further develop a sound technical basis and best practices for mold design and process parameters for the Direct Casting of U-6Nb components with a hemispherical geometry. Specifically, process parameters and mold design are examined in detail for producing a 250 mm diameter hemisphere component. The goal is to efficiently produce a sound casting with a minimum of microporosity and uniform niobium composition. Prior work had tried unsuccessfully to cast this shape in a large single-coil vacuum induction melting (VIM) furnace. These castings had unacceptable levels microporosity and niobium segregation. In this work, this same part was cast in a multi-zone VIM and a sound casting was obtained. Beyond simply casting a sound part, this work aimed to optimize the hot-top design, metal pouring temperature, and mold pole temperature. Sound castings where produced using both a tapered and step hot-top designs. There were slightly lower porosity levels and about 5% better metal usage with the step hot-top so that design slightly better. With the current mold design, which uses a funnel and filter arrangement, there a large amount of superheat loss in the funnel/filter during mold filling. This temperature loss, and the apparent variability in the filling behavior, lead to casting defects in the pole region of several of the castings. The variability and defects were overcome by moving to a higher mold pole temperature (850°C) and a higher metal pour temperature (1500°C). For future work it is believed that a no-funnel design, with the filter integral to the crucible, will be a better and more robust strategy.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

Enhancing isotope mixing in U-10Mo downblend castings with electromagnetic stirring

Uranium alloyed with 10 wt percent molybdenum (U-10Mo) is the proposed fuel for use in the United States’ high-performance research reactors. The U-10Mo fuel is fabricated by a two-step casting process that downblends highly enriched uranium with depleted uranium (DU) and/or natural uranium (NU) and subsequently alloys the resulting high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) with Mo. Currently, a two-step casting process is needed to meet the ingots’ U-235 enrichment homogeneity specifications. This work demonstrates the ability to provide more homogeneous U-235 distributions during downblend casting by using zirconia for crucibles rather than graphite. When graphite is used as a crucible, the electromagnetic field produced by the induction heater couples directly with the graphite. Zirconia is nonconducting in this study, and therefore does not couple with the field. The induction field couples directly with the metal, and causes electromagnetic stirring (EMS) in the molten metal pool. Eight downblend casting experiments were carried out in this work. Four were performed with zirconia crucibles and four with graphite crucibles. The U-235 enrichment was measured at nine discrete points in each casting using laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS). The enrichment homogeneity was approximately eight times better in zirconia crucible castings than in graphite crucible castings as measured by the plate enrichment range and enrichment coefficient of variation. The results show a single casting step could be used to meet USHPRR enrichment specifications if electromagnetic stirring is present during casting. A related investigation was carried out to determine whether it is appropriate to measure enrichment on as-cast ingots or whether heat treated specimens should be used to accurately characterize enrichment. The results show that the as-cast microstructure plays a significant role in enrichment homogeneity. It is recommended that all enrichment measurements be done after the homogenization heat treatment typical of U-10Mo processing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1995

AMCC casting development, volume 2

PCC successfully cast and performed nondestructive testing, FPI and x-ray, on seventeen AMCC castings. Destructive testing, lab analysis and chemical milling, was performed on eleven of the castings and the remaining six castings were shipped to NASA or Aerojet. Two of the six castings shipped, lots 015 and 016, were fully processed per blueprint requirements. PCC has fully developed the gating and processing parameters of this part and feels the part could be implemented into production, after four more castings have been completed to ensure the repeatability of the process. The AMCC casting has been a technically challenging part due to its size, configuration, and alloy type. The height and weight of the wax pattern assembly necessitated the development of a hollow gating system to ensure structural integrity of the shell throughout the investment process. The complexity in the jacket area of the casting required the development of an innovative casting technology that PCC has termed 'TGC' or thermal gradient control. This method of setting up thermal gradients in the casting during solidification represents a significant process improvement for PCC and has been successfully implemented on other programs. The alloy, JBK75, is a relatively new alloy in the investment casting arena and required our engineering staff to learn the gating, processing, and dimensional characteristics of the material.

Source record↗

DOE OSTI2018

Analysis of Mold Friction in a Continuous Casting Using Wavelet Transform

Mold friction (MDF) is an important parameter reflecting the lubrication condition between the initial shell and the mold during continuous casting. In this article, based on practical MDF from the slab continuous casting driven by a mechanical vibration device, the characteristics of friction were analyzed by continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) in different casting conditions, such as normal casting, level fluctuation, and alarming of the temperature measurement system. The results show that the CWT of friction accurately captures the subtle changes in friction force, such as the periodic characteristic of MDF during normal casting and the disordered feature of MDF during level fluctuation. Most important, the results capture the occurrence of abnormal casting and display the friction frequency characteristics at this abnormal time. In addition, in this article, there are some abnormal casting conditions, and the friction signal is stable until there is a sudden large change when abnormal casting, such as split breakout and submerged entry nozzle breakage, occurs. The DWT has a good ability to capture the friction characteristics for such abnormal situations. In particular, the potential abnormal features of MDF were presented in advance, which provides strong support for identifying abnormal casting and even preventing abnormal casting.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2020

Seasonal grassland productivity forecast for the U.S. Great Plains using Grass–Cast

Every spring, ranchers in the drought-prone U.S. Great Plains face the same difficult challenge —trying to estimate how much forage will be available for livestock to graze during the upcoming summer grazing season. To reduce this uncertainty in predicting forage availability, we developed an innovative new grassland productivity forecast system, named Grass-Cast, to provide science-informed estimates of growing season above ground net primary production (ANPP). Grass-Cast uses over 30 yr of historical data including weather and the satellite-derived normalized vegetation difference index (NDVI)—combined with ecosystem modeling and seasonal precipitation forecasts—to predict if rangelands in individual counties are likely to produce below-normal, near-normal, or above-normal amounts of grass biomass (lbs/ac). Grass-Cast also provides a view of rangeland productivity in the broader region, to assist in larger scale decision-making—such as where forage resources for grazing might be more plentiful if a rancher’s own region is at risk of drought. Grass-Cast is updated approximately every two weeks from April through July. Each Grass-Cast forecast provides three scenarios of ANPP for the upcoming growing season based on different precipitation outlooks. Near real-time 8-d NDVI can be used to supplement Grass-Cast in predicting cumulative growing season NDVI and ANPP starting in mid-April for the Southern Great Plains and mid-May to early June for the Central and Northern Great Plains. Here, we present the scientific basis and methods for Grass-Cast along with the county-level production forecasts from 2017 and 2018 for ten states in the U.S. Great Plains. The correlation between early growing season forecasts and the end-of growing season ANPP estimate is >50% by late May or early June. In a retrospective evaluation, we compared Grass-Cast end-of-growing season ANPP results to an independent dataset and found that the two agreed 69% of the time over a 20-yr period. Although some predictive tools exist for forecasting upcoming growing season conditions, none predict actual productivity for the entire Great Plains. The Grass-Cast system could be adapted to predict grassland ANPP outside of the Great Plains or to predict perennial biofuel grass production.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Development of Cast Valve Bodies For High Temperature Service

Gen 3 Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power (CSP) system components are required to operate at 750°C - 800°C to achieve the Sunshot target of 6 cents/kWh. Haynes ® 282 and IN ® 740H are preferred alloys for the construction of these components due to their high tensile and creep strengths for service at temperatures greater than 750°C. There is significant motivation to lower the cost of materials and components so that the capital costs can be minimized. One approach to reduce costs is to fabricate castings at the lowest possible cost. To obtain the lowest cost in castings, there is a significant need to maximize yields in castings by decreasing rejects due to casting defects and to minimize wastage in material lost in the gating systems. However, very little work has been performed to develop cast products using Haynes ® 282. Although preliminary work has established the feasibility of casting Haynes ® 282 using investment and sand casting, there are no commercial cast components available. In particular, there is significant interest in the development of casting design and process technology for the fabrication of components such as valve bodies using Haynes ® 282.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Hybrid Al Casting + AM Components for Automotive Applications

Although casting Aluminum (Al) alloys is widely used for automotive application, the conventional casting process is showing limitations for modern vehicle production. A hybrid manufacturing method that is capable of fabricating automotive structures with tailored functionality and tuned attributes at a high production rate is proposed in this project, utilizing the merits of conventional casting methods and additive manufacturing (AM) methods. Ford is interested in supplementing conventional casting processes (e.g., shape casting, high pressure die casting) with local modifications to geometry and microstructure using additive manufacturing techniques. Two additive manufacturing methods, wire-arc and laser hot-wire directed energy deposition AM process, were evaluated by deposition of 4043 filler wire onto high-pressure die cast and permanent mold cast Al-Si alloys. The feasibility of this hybrid manufacturing method was determined through trial deposition and evaluation of defects, microstructure, and mechanical properties. Laser hot-wire deposition was found to be beneficial for this application with low porosity, a refined microstructure, and mechanical properties similar to those reported in the literature for 4043. The mechanical properties of the interface between the A356 casting and deposited 4043 were found to be controlled by the weaker deposit material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2003

Development of Aerogel Molds for Metal Casting Using Lunar and Martian Regolith

In the last few years NASA has set new priorities for research and development of technologies necessary to enable long-term presence on the Moon and Mars. Among these key technologies is what is known as in situ resource utilization, which defines all conceivable usage of mineral, liquid, gaseous, or biological resources on a visited planet. In response to this challenge, we have been focusing on developing and demonstrating the manufacturing of a specific product using Lunar and Martian soil simulants (i.e., a mold for the casting of metal and alloy parts) which will be an indispensable tool for the survival of outposts on the Moon and Mars. In addition, our purpose is to demonstrate the feasibility of using mesoporous materials such as aerogels to serve as efficient casting molds for high quality components in propulsion and other aerospace applications. The first part of the project consists of producing aerogels from the in situ resources available in Martian and Lunar soil. The approach we are investigating is to use chemical processes to solubilize silicates using organic reagents at low temperatures and then use these as precursors in the formation of aerogels for the fabrication of metal casting molds. One set of experiments consists of dissolving silica sources in basic ethylene glycol solution to form silicon glycolates. When ground silica aerogel was used as source material, a clear solution of silicon glycolate was obtained and reacted to form a gel thus proving the feasibility of this approach. The application of this process to Lunar and Martian simulants did not result in the formation of a gel; further study is in progress. In the second method acidified alcohol is reacted with the simulants to form silicate esters. Preliminary results indicate the presence of silicon alkoxide in the product distillation. However, no gel has been obtained so further characterization is ongoing. In the second part of the project, the focus has been on developing a series of aerogel plates suitable for thin plate metal casting and ingot metal castings. The influence of aerogels on thin wall metal castings was studied by placing aerogel plates into the cavities of thin sections of resin bonded sand molds. An 1 based commercial alloy ( 356) containing 7 percent Si was poured into these molds. Post-solidification studies provide evidence that aerogel inserts significantly reduce the cooling rate during solidification. The advantage of a lower rate using aerogel inserts was reflected in the reduction of casting defects such as shrinkage porosity. Quantitative results support the hypothesis that using aerogels as a mold material can offer definite advantages when used as casting thin sections. As a separate effort, silica aerogel with cylindrical cavities have been prepared and will be evaluated for casting commercial alloys.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1985

Method of reducing the green density of a slip cast article

The method disclosed in this specification is one of reducing the green density of an article cast in a slip casting operation. The article is cast from a casting slip containing silicon metal particles, yttrium containing particles, and a small amount of a fluoride salt which is effective to suppress flocculation of the silicon metal particles by y.sup.+3 ions derived from the yttrium containing particles. The method is characterized by the following step. A small amount of compound which produces a cation which will partly flocculate the particles of silicon metal is added to the casting slip. The small amount of this compound is added so that when the casting slip is slip cast into a casting mold, the partly flocculated particles of silicon will interrupt an otherwise orderly packing of the particles of silicon and particles of yttrium. In this manner, the green density of the slip cast article is reduced and the article may be more easily nitrided.

Mangels, John A.↗

DOE OSTI2015

Evaluation of Technetium Getters to Improve the Performance of Cast Stone

Cast Stone has been selected as the preferred waste form for solidification of aqueous secondary liquid effluents from the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) process condensates and low-activity waste (LAW) melter off-gas caustic scrubber effluents. Cast Stone is also being evaluated as a supplemental immobilization technology to provide the necessary LAW treatment capacity to complete the Hanford tank waste cleanup mission in a timely and cost effective manner. One of the major radionuclides that Cast Stone has the potential to immobilize is technetium (Tc). The mechanism for immobilization is through the reduction of the highly mobile Tc(VII) species to the less mobile Tc(IV) species by the blast furnace slag (BFS) used in the Cast Stone formulation. Technetium immobilization through this method would be beneficial because Tc is one of the most difficult contaminants to address at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site due to its complex chemical behavior in tank waste, limited incorporation in mid- to high-temperature immobilization processes (vitrification, steam reformation, etc.), and high mobility in subsurface environments. In fact, the Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement for the Hanford Site, Richland, Washington (TC&WM EIS) identifies technetium-99 ( 99 Tc) as one of the radioactive tank waste components contributing the most to the environmental impact associated with the cleanup of the Hanford Site. The TC&WM EIS, along with an earlier supplemental waste-form risk assessment, used a diffusion-limited release model to estimate the release of different contaminants from the WTP process waste forms. In both of these predictive modeling exercises, where effective diffusivities based on grout performance data available at the time, groundwater at the 100-m down-gradient well exceeded the allowable maximum permissible concentrations for 99 Tc. (900 pCi/L). Recent relatively short-term (63 day) leach tests conducted on both LAW and secondary waste Cast Stone monoliths indicated that 99 Tc diffusivities were at or near diffusivities where the groundwater at the 100-m down-gradient well would exceed the allowable maximum permissible 99 Tc concentrations. There is, therefore, a need and an opportunity to improve the retention of Tc in the Cast Stone waste form. One method to improve the performance of the Cast Stone waste form is through the addition of “getters” that selectively sequester Tc inside Cast Stone.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2019

URANIUM ACCUMULATIONS IN CASTING OPERATIONS

In December 2017, unexpected accumulations of uranium were discovered in several locations throughout the casting process area at the Y-12 National Security Complex that subsequently placed casting operations on hold. The Y-12 uranium casting process takes place in enclosures and hoods, many of which are open to a large floor surface area that has limited visibility and access. At the time of discovery, there were no Nuclear Criticality Safety (NCS) analyses or limits for material accumulations in the casting processing areas. Due to changes in the operation of the casting process and invalid assumptions in the criticality safety evaluation, significant material accumulations were occurring inside the enclosures. The material accumulations were identified as a result of an extent of condition review from another process, and an occurrence report was filed. The NCS organization worked with Production and Operations personnel to identify additional areas of uranium accumulation in the casting area, which resulted in several iterations of cleaning and material collection. Following material recovery, a causal analysis was performed that identified several contributing factors that allowed the accumulations to go unnoticed. In order to resume operations, the criticality safety evaluation was revised to analyze and control uranium accumulations in the casting area. Additionally, improvements in nuclear material control and accountability (NMC&A) controls were required. Casting operations have since resumed with frequently required material collections, which have limited the amount of uranium material accumulation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2019

URANIUM ACCUMULATIONS IN CASTING OPERATIONS

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Achieving Metallurgical Bonding in Aluminum/Steel Bimetallic Castings

Abstract Aluminum castings are increasingly being used in automotive powertrain and structural applications for vehicle lightweighting. Cast aluminum parts often need to be machined and joined to steel components in multi-material systems. Bimetallic components produced by casting aluminum over steel substrate are advantageous due to the elimination of machining and traditional dissimilar material joining processes. However, forming a strong metallurgical bonding during overcasting process has been challenging. In this paper, the effects of processing conditions such as substrate surface preparation, pre-heating temperature, melt conditions as well as casting design were studied by investigating the bimetallic interfaces for aluminum A319 casting alloy and a high alloy steel substrate in a sand-casting process. Zn and Al-based substrate coatings were evaluated. The experimental results suggest a metallurgical bond between aluminum and steel can be formed during the sand-casting process via high temperature diffusion with or without coatings. Al-based substrate coating prior to overcasting results in the formation of a continuous layer of intermetallics at the bimetallic interface, with large Al–Si–Fe intermetallics penetrating the cast aluminum.

Moodispaw, Michael P. (ORCID:0000000267635882)↗

DOE OSTI2017

Freeze Tape Cast Thick Mo Doped Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithium titanate (Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 ) powders with and without molybdenum doping (LTO and MoLTO respectively) were synthesized by a solid-state method and used to fabricate electrodes on Cu foil using a normal tape-cast method and a novel freeze-tape-cast method. Modest molybdenum doping produces a significant electronic conductivity increase (e.g. 1 mS cm -1 for MoLTO vs 10 -7 mS cm -1 for LTO) that is thought to reflect a partial Ti 4+ reduction to Ti 3+ with charge compensation by the Mo 6+ dopant, producing a stable mixed-valent Ti 4+/3+ state. Freeze-tape-cast electrodes were fabricated by a variant of the normal tape-cast method that includes a rapid freezing step in which the solvent in the Cu-foil-supported slurry is rapidly frozen on a cold finger then subsequently sublimed to create unidirectional columnar macropores in the electrode. The resulting electrodes exhibit high porosity and low tortuosity which enhances electrolyte accessibility throughout the full electrode thickness. Freeze-tape-cast electrodes subjected to galvanostatic charge-discharge testing as cathodes in cells vs. a lithium metal anode exhibit higher specific capacity and lower capacity loss at high discharge rates compared with normal-tape-cast electrodes of the same mass loading, despite the fact that the freeze-tape-cast electrodes are nearly twice as thick as the normal tape cast electrodes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2016

Getter Incorporation into Cast Stone and Solid State Characterizations

Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) is collecting relevant available data on waste forms for use as a supplemental immobilization technology, to provide the additional capacity needed to treat low-activity waste (LAW) in Hanford Site tanks and complete the tank waste cleanup mission in a timely and cost-effective manner. One candidate supplemental waste form, fabricated using a low-temperature process, is a cementitious grout called Cast Stone. Cast Stone has been under investigation for this application at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) since initial screening tests in FY13. This report is the culmination of work to lower the diffusivities of Tc and I from Cast Stone using getters. Getters are compounds added to a system designed to selectively sequester a species of interest to provide increased stability to the species. The work contained within this report is related to waste form development and testing, and does not directly support the 2017 integrated disposal facility (IDF) performance assessment. However, this work contains valuable information which may be used in performance assessment maintenance past FY17, and in future waste form development. This report on performance characterization of Tc and I getters in Cast Stone fabricated with simulated LAW covers several areas of interest and major findings to WRPS: investigating performance of potassium metal sulfide (KMS-2-SS) and tin (II) apatite (Sn-A) as Tc getters when incorporated into Cast Stone; investigating performance of silver exchanged zeolite (Ag-Z) and argentite (Arg) as I getters when incorporated into Cast Stone; utilizing sequential addition of Tc and I getters to overcome any deleterious interactions between the getters in solution; determining, for the first time, Tc distribution within the cured Cast Stone and its evolution during leaching; and performing solid state characterization of getters and Cast Stone samples to support leach test findings and develop a mechanistic understanding of the processes that control Tc and I release into solution.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS1992

Effects of casting conditions and deformation processing on A356 aluminum and A356-20 vol. pct SiC composites

The effects of casting conditions and deformation processing on the mechanical properties of unreinforced A356 aluminum and A356-20 vol pct SiC composite were investigated by tensile properties in these compounds fabricated by either sand casting or squeeze casting techniques followed by hot working to 33, 50, 90, and 95 percent reductions. The evolution of the microstructure and values of tensile properties were evaluated for the cast materials in each of the hot worked conditions. It was found that, while the deformation processing of the sand-cast composite resulted in banding of the Al and SiC particles within the microstructure, such features were not observed in the squeeze-cast microstructure. The tensile strengths of the squeeze cast materials was found to be higher than those of the sand cast materials, for both the unreinforced and composite samples, while increased amounts of deformation were found to improve the ductility of the composite.

Rozak, G. A.↗