Investigation of Electron Beam Welding Characteristics Using AA6061-T6 for Nuclear Plate-Type Fuel Assembly

Author(s):  
Soo-sung Kim ◽  
Yong-jin Jeong ◽  
Jong-man Park ◽  
Yoon-sang Lee

This study was carried out to establish an electron beam welding process for nuclear plate-type fuel assembly fabrication. A preliminary investigation for plate fuel fabrication was conducted with a consideration of the weld performance using AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy made through the EBW (Electron Beam Welding) process. The optimum welding parameters for the plate-type fuel assembly were obtained in terms of the accelerating voltage, beam current and welding time. The welds made by the optimum parameters showed slightly lower tensile strengths than those of the un-welded specimens. The integrity of the welds by the EBW process was confirmed by the results of the tensile test, an examination of the macro-cross sections and the fracture surfaces of the welded specimens.

Author(s):  
Soo-sung Kim ◽  
Yong-jin Jeong ◽  
Jong-man Park ◽  
Yoon-sang Lee ◽  
Chong-tak Lee

A procedure for Electron Beam Welding (EBW) was developed for the manufacturing of a follower fuel assembly made of an AA 6061-T6 aluminum straps for a U-Mo plate-type fuel proposed to be used in the future in Korea’s Kijang Research Reactor (KJRR) project. The initial welding trials of the weld samples were carried out with a high vacuum chamber using the EBW process. After investigating the welds, EB welding parameters for the full-sized samples were optimized for the required depth of penetration and weld quality. Subsequently, the weld samples made by the filler specimens showed higher shearing strengths than those of the non-filler specimens. This procedure made by EBW process was also confirmed based on the results of the shearing strength test, an examination of the macro-cross sections, and the fracture surfaces of the welded specimens.


Author(s):  
Soo-sung Kim ◽  
Don-bae Lee ◽  
Yoon-sang Lee ◽  
Jong-man Park

This study was carried out to establish the electron beam welding process for a nuclear fuel plate assembly fabrication. A preliminary investigation for plate fuel fabrication was conducted with a consideration of weld performance using AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy made by the EBW (Electron Beam Welding) process. The optimum welding parameters for the fuel plate assembly were obtained in terms of the accelerating voltage, beam current and welding time. The welds made by the optimum parameters showed slightly lower tensile strengths than those of the un-welded specimens. The integrity of the welds by the EBW process was confirmed by the results of the tensile test, an examination of the macro-cross sections and the fracture surfaces of the welded specimens.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34-35 ◽  
pp. 1516-1520
Author(s):  
Hong Ye ◽  
Han Li Yang ◽  
Zhong Lin Yan

Electron beam welding process of AZ61 with 10mm thickness magnesium alloys was investigated. The influence of processing parameters including focusing current, welding beam current and welding speed was researched. The results show that an ideal weld bead can be formed by choosing processing parameters properly. Focusing current is main parameter that determines cross section shape. The beam current and welding speed are main parameters that determine the weld width and dimensions. The test results for typical welds indicate that the microhardness of the weld zone is better than that of the base meta1. A fine-grained weld region has been observed and no obvious heat-affected zone is found. The fusion zone mainly consists of small α-Mg phase and β-Mg17A112. The small grains and β phases in the joint are believed to play an important role in the increase of the strength of weld for AZ61 magnesium alloys.


Author(s):  
Nick Bagshaw ◽  
Chris Punshon ◽  
John Rothwell

Boiler and steam piping components in power plants are fabricated using creep strength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steels, which often operate at temperatures above 550°C. Modification of alloy content within these steels has produced better creep performance and higher operating temperatures, which increases the process efficiency of power plants. The improved materials, however, are susceptible to type IV cracking at the welded regions. A better understanding of type IV cracking in these materials is required and is the basis of the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) UK funded VALID (Verified Approaches to Life Management & Improved Design of High Temperature Steels for Advanced Steam Plants) project. In order to study the relationship between creep performance and heat input during welding, several welds with varying amounts of heat input and resultant HAZ widths were produced using the electron beam welding process. The welding parameters were developed with the aid of weld process modeling using the finite element (FE) method, in which the welding parameters were optimized to produce low, medium and high heat input welds. In this paper, the modeling approach and the development of electron beam welds in ASTM A387 grade P92 pipe material are presented. Creep specimens were extracted from the welded pipes and testing is ongoing. The authors acknowledge the VALID project partners, contributors and funding body: Air Liquide, Metrode, Polysoude, E.ON New Build & Technology Ltd, UKE.ON, Doosan, Centrica Energy, SSE, Tenaris, TU Chemnitz, The University of Nottingham, The Open University and UK TSB. Paper published with permission.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
lanyu mao ◽  
Zongan Luo ◽  
Yingying Feng ◽  
Xiaoming Zhang

Abstract Vacuum roll-cladding (VRC) is an effective method to produce high quality ultra-heavy AISI P20 plate steel. In the process of VRC, reasonable welding process of electron beam welding (EBW) can significantly avoid welding cracks and reduce the cost. In this paper, the electron beam welding process of AISI P20 tool steel was simulated by using a combined heat source model based on finite element method, and the temperature field and stress field under different welding parameters were studied respectively . The results showed that welding parameters have a greater effect on weld penetration than that of weld width, which making the aspect ratio increases with the increase of welding current, and decrease with the increase of welding speed. The weld morphologies were consistent with those of the modeling and the measured thermal heat curves were good agreement with those of simulated, which was verified the feasibility and effectiveness of temperature fields. The results of stress fields under different welding parameters indicat ed that lower welding speed and higher welding current resulting in lower residual stress at welded joint, which means lower risk of cracking after EBW. The results of this study have been successfully applied to industrial production.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015.23 (0) ◽  
pp. _ICONE23-1-_ICONE23-1
Author(s):  
Soo-sung Kim ◽  
Yong-jin Jeong ◽  
Jong-man Park ◽  
Yoon-sang Lee ◽  
Chong-tak Lee

2013 ◽  
Vol 762 ◽  
pp. 538-543
Author(s):  
Jiang Lin Huang ◽  
Jean Christophe Gebelin ◽  
Richard Turner ◽  
Roger C. Reed

A process model for electron beam (EB) welding with a variable thickness weld joint has been developed. Based on theoretical aspects and experimental calibration of electron beam focusing, welding parameters including beam power, focus current, working distance and welding speed were formulated in the heat source model. The model has been applied for the simulation of assembly of components in a gas turbine engine compressor. A series of metallographic weld sections with different welding thickness were investigated to validate the predicted thermal results. The workpieces were scanned both prior to-and after welding, using automated optical metrology (GOM scanning) in order to measure the distortion induced in the welding process. The measured result was compared with predicted displacement. This work demonstrates the attempts to improve the EB welding process modelling by connecting the heat input directly from the actual welding parameters, which could potentially reduce (or even remove) the need for weld bead calibrations from experimental observation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-214
Author(s):  
V. S. Tynchenko ◽  
◽  
I. A. Golovenok ◽  
V. E. Petrenko ◽  
A. V. Milov ◽  
...  

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