Hot rolling of thick uranium molybdenum alloys
AssigneeConsolidated Nuclear Security, LLC
InventorsAmy L. DeMint, Jack G. Gooch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are processes for hot rolling billets of uranium that have been alloyed with about ten weight percent molybdenum to produce cold-rollable sheets that are about one hundred mils thick. In certain embodiments, the billets have a thickness of about ⅞ inch or greater. Disclosed processes typically involve a rolling schedule that includes a light rolling pass and at least one medium rolling pass. Processes may also include reheating the rolling stock and using one or more heavy rolling passes, and may include an annealing step.
Claims17
A method for forming a cold-rollable sheet of a uranium molybdenum alloy comprising:
- (a) heating between about 790° C. to about 860° C. a starting billet of the uranium molybdenum alloy to form a heated starting billet;
- (b) reducing the thickness of the heated starting billet using at least one light rolling pass wherein the thickness of the heated starting billet is reduced by about one to two percent with each light rolling pass to form a thinned billet;
- and
- (c) reducing the thickness of the thinned billet to form a medial plate of the uranium molybdenum alloy using at least one medium rolling pass to reduce the thickness of the thinned billet between about eight percent to about twelve percent with each medium rolling pass;
- wherein the medial plate of the uranium molybdenum alloy is the cold-rollable sheet of the uranium molybdenum alloy.
A method for forming a cold-rollable sheet of a uranium molybdenum alloy comprising:
- (a) heating between about 790° C. to about 860° C. a starting billet of the uranium molybdenum alloy to form a heated starting billet, the starting billet having a thickness of about ⅞ inch or greater;
- (b) reducing the thickness of the heated starting billet using at least one light rolling pass wherein the thickness of the heated starting billet is reduced by about one to two percent with each light rolling pass to form a thinned billet;
- and
- (c) reducing the thickness of the thinned billet to form a medial plate of the uranium molybdenum alloy using at least one medium rolling pass to reduce the thickness of the thinned billet between about eight percent to about twelve percent with each medium rolling pass;
- wherein the medial plate of the uranium molybdenum alloy is the cold-rollable sheet of the uranium molybdenum alloy.
A method for forming a cold-rollable sheet of a uranium molybdenum alloy comprising:
- (a) heating between about 790° C. to about 860° C. a starting billet of the uranium molybdenum alloy to form a heated starting billet;
- (b) kiss-rolling the heated starting billet;
- (c) reducing the thickness of the heated starting billet using at least one light rolling pass wherein the thickness of the heated starting billet is reduced by about one to two percent with each light rolling pass to form a thinned billet;
- and
- (d) reducing the thickness of the thinned billet to form a medial plate of the uranium molybdenum alloy using at least one medium rolling pass to reduce the thickness of the thinned billet between about eight percent to about twelve percent with each medium rolling pass;
- wherein the medial plate of the uranium molybdenum alloy is the cold-rollable sheet of the uranium molybdenum alloy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.