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US 11,443,857 B2Granted
Cold spray chromium coating for nuclear fuel rods
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsEdward J. Lahoda, Peng Xu, Zeses Karoutas, Sumit Ray, Kumar Sridharan, Benjamin Maier, Greg Johnson
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Abstract
A zirconium alloy cladding tube for use in a water cooled nuclear reactor under normal operating conditions and under high temperature oxidation conditions is described. The cladding tube has a coating uniformly deposited thereon. The coating, which may be up to 300 microns thick, is selected from the group consisting of chromium, a chromium-based alloy, and combinations thereof.
Claims20
A cladding tube for use in a water cooled nuclear reactor comprising:
- a cladding tube formed from a substrate comprising a zirconium alloy and having a coating uniformly deposited on the substrate by a cold spray thermal deposition process comprising:
- heating a pressurized carrier gas to a temperature in a range of greater than 400° C. to 1200° C.;
- adding particles to the heated carrier gas, the particles being selected from the group consisting of pure chromium, chromium-based alloys, and combinations thereof, and having an average diameter of 20 microns or less;
- spraying the carrier gas and entrained particles onto the substrate at a velocity of 800 to 4000 ft/sec to form the coating on the substrate;
- and
- annealing the cladding tube in a temperature range of 200° C. to 800° C.
- wherein the coating is selected from the group consisting of chromium, a chromium-based alloy, and combinations thereof.
4 more elements
A cladding tube for use in a water cooled nuclear reactor comprising:
- a cladding tube formed from a zirconium alloy and having a coating uniformly deposited thereon by a cold spray thermal deposition process comprising:
- heating a pressurized carrier gas to a temperature in a range of 200° C. to 1200° C.;
- adding particles to the heated carrier gas, the particles being selected from the group consisting of pure chromium, chromium-based alloys, and combinations thereof, and having an average diameter of 20 microns or less;
- spraying the carrier gas and entrained particles onto a substrate at a velocity of 800 to 4000 ft/sec to form the coating on the cladding tube;
- and
- following formation of the coating, annealing the cladding tube;
- wherein the coating comprises grains that are equiaxed, recrystallized, or a combination thereof.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.