Low Cost Technique for Testing Ceramic Insulator Coatings

197 Low Cost Technique for Testing Ceramic Insulator Coatings--REB Research and Consulting, 25451 Gardner, Oak Park, MI 48237-1348; (810) 547-7942 Dr. Robert E. Buxbaum, Principal Investigator Dr. Robert E. Buxbaum, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER82467 Amount: $75,000 Several of the most attractive designs for nuclear fusion reactors would benefit greatly from a durable coating between the tritium-breeder fluid and the reactor wall. A barrier coating to reduce the transport of radioactive tritium to the environment is of special concern with lithium- lead, while a ceramic coating to reduce electrically-induced stresses is especially important with lithium-cooled magnetically-confined designs. This stress is caused when an electrical conductor- like lithium- is passed through a magnetic field, thereby generating an electric current. The development of coatings is slowed by the lack of a quick, low-cost way to compare different coatings or coatings made in different ways. This project will develop a technique that provides rapid, low-cost testing method of candidate coatings applied on the inside of sealed vanadium samples that are filled with lithium, thereby modeling one possible configeration of a future fusion reactor. Coat quality will be inferred from the coating¿s hydrogen absorption; hydrogen absorption should correlate strongly, and inversely, with coat quality. In phase 1 we will build a set-up and demonstrate that it can quickly and cheaply differentiate between several benchmark samples. In phase 2 we will apply this technique to testing different CaO coatings on vanadium samples and testing alternative ceramics for use with lithium and lithium-lead, breeder fluids. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: This technology should provide a simple cheap way to identify flaws in a ceramic coating on sample fusion reactor parts. It can also be used for nondestructive testing of ceramic coatings on aerospace parts or electronic packaging materials.