Diamond Coating Reduces Nuclear Fuel Rod Corrosion at Accidental Temperatures: The Role of Surface Electrochemistry and Semiconductivity

If we want to decrease the probability of accidents in nuclear reactors, we must control the surface corrosion of the fuel rods. In this work we used a diamond coating containing <60% diamond and >40% sp2 “soft” carbon phase to protect Zr alloy fuel rods (ZIRLO ®) against corrosion in steam at temperatures from 850 °C to 1000 °C. A diamond coating was grown in a pulse microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition apparatus and made a strong barrier against hydrogen uptake into ZIRLO® (ZIRLO) under all tested conditions. The coating also reduced ZIRLO corrosion in hot steam at 850 °C (for 60 min) and at 900 °C (for 30 min). However, the protective ability of the diamond coating decreased after 20 min in 1000 °C hot steam. The main goal of this work was to explain how diamond and sp2 “soft” carbon affect the ZIRLO fuel rod surface electrochemistry and semi conductivity and how these parameters influence the hot steam ZIRLO corrosion process. To achieve this goal, theoretical and experimental methods (scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, carrier gas hot extraction, oxidation kinetics, ab initio calculations) were applied. Deep understanding of ZIRLO surface processes and states enable us to reduce accidental temperature corrosion in nuclear reactors.

EFFECT OF EMBEDDED TUNGSTEN PARTICLES ON IMPACT RESISTANCE OF DIAMOND COATING

For diamond coating, natural fragile property easily leads to fracture, delamination and peeling, which seriously inhibits the applications in many industrial fields. In order to prolong the lifetime, improving the toughness under impact load is essential for diamond coating. In this work, a novel method was proposed by the conventional CVD diamond technique combining with the particles, with which the nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) coating with W particles (W-NCD) was fabricated to evaluate the impact behavior. The pure NCD coating was also produced for comparison. Repeating impact testing was performed to evaluate the impact resistance of the as-deposited NCD coatings. The results showed that the diamond coating can be fabricated on the substrate with W particles. The indentation scar revealed that the W-NCD coating had the stronger impact resistance than the NCD coating. Ratcheting effect was employed to discuss the impact properties of NCD coating for the first time. The coating integrity played a vital role in ratcheting displacement. Repeating impact can make the NCD and W-NCD coatings soft, and the W particles can accelerate the softening process. Hence, embedding particles can provide a potential and valid method to enhance the impact resistance of diamond coating that was very important for the fragile coating.

Cutting performance evaluation of boron-doped and undoped diamond coatings in drilling of CFRP laminates

This study investigated the effect of boron-doped and undoped diamond coatings on the cutting performance of cobalt cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) drills when drilling CFRP. Three types of diamond coating, as boron-doped microcrystalline (B-MCD), boron-doped nanocrystalline (B-NCD), and undoped nanocrystalline (NCD), were deposited on specially designed for drilling of CFRP one-shot drills by the hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) method. The coating characteristics, such as surface morphology, roughness, carbon structure, and interfacial adhesion, were investigated. Then cutting tests were carried out, and the tool’s flank wear, thrust force, and torque were evaluated. For comparison of cutting performance, non-coated WC-Co drills were used in the tests as well. Furthermore, drilled holes were inspected in terms of peel-up and push-out delamination. According to the results, the B-MCD coated drill presented advantages in tool life, and quality of drilled holes over the NCD and B-NCD coated drills. Also, the results confirmed the adhesion enhanced effect of diamond coating to WC-Co substrate through boron doping of the layer.

Laser Treatment CVD Diamond Coated Punch for Ultra-Fine Piercing of Metallic Sheets

CVD-diamond coated special tools have been widely utilized to prolong their tool life in practical production lines. WC (Co) punch for fine piercing of metallic sheets required for high wear-toughness to be free from chipping and damages and for high product quality to punch out the holes with sufficient dimensional accuracy. The laser trimming process was developed to reduce the surface roughness of diamond coating down to submicron level and to adjust its diamond layer dimensions with a sharp punch edge for accurate piercing. The pulsed laser irradiation was employed to demonstrate that micro-groove was accurately formed into the diamond coating. Less deterioration in the worked diamond film by this laser treatment was proved by the Raman spectroscopy. The femtosecond laser trimming was proposed to sharpen the punch edge down to 2 μm and to form the nano-textured punch side surfaces with the LIPSS (Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structuring)-period of 300 nm. Fine piercing experiments were performed to demonstrate that punch life was significantly extended to continuous punching in more than 10,000 shots and that mirror-shining hole surfaces were attained in every shot by regularly coining the nanotextures. The sharp punch edge with homogeneous edge profile was responsible for reduction of the induced damages into work sheet by piercing. The punch life was extended by the ejection mechanism of debris particles through the nanotextures on the punch side surface. The present laser treatment was useful in trimming and nanostructuring the complex-shaped punch edge for industrial application.

Mechanochemical method of polishing a polycrystalline diamond coating

The monograph presents a solution to the technological problem of polishing a polycrystalline diamond coating by a mechanochemical method in order to ensure the required surface roughness and high processing performance. The analysis of existing schemes and methods of polishing diamonds and diamond coatings is carried out. A technology for polishing diamond coatings with a metal brush is proposed, which provides brittle destruction of the vertices of large micro-roughnesses and graphitization of small micro-roughnesses. For researchers, postgraduates and specialists of industrial enterprises involved in the technology of polishing the surfaces of parts.