Generation IV Nuclear Reactors

The Department of Energy has recently requested proposals for the development of alloys that will sustain the harsh environment of a nuclear reactor. The reason for this request results from a Nuclear Energy Road Map that was recently presented to Congress for approval. There are many reasons for this program to proceed. Our current reactors are at the limit of their life and extending service is expensive. Current reactor designs have shown that large on-site reactors as replacements cannot possibly compete with low cost, abundant natural gas and other hydrocarbon fuels. However, in a green society, hydrocarbon fuels are considered a threat to the ozone layer.
Therefore a different approach offers a possibility to resolve the issue of expense of new reactors and the emissions problems associated with fossil fuels. There are approximately six designs of these new concept reactors. However, all have been generated using computer modeling and have not been tried using real world technology.
The new designs operate under the concept of the Brayton cycle as opposed to the conventional Carno Cycle. Unfortunately the Brayton Cycle, for most efficient operation, experiences temperatures as high as 1600F (870C). The first problem encountered is what materials can be used at these temperatures that will satisfy current pressure codes. So far two alloys have been identified as probable materials. Both are Haynes nickel based alloys with high chromium, tungsten and cobalt additions.We have studied the properties of Haynes Alloy  230 and believe that our patented processes can assist the alloys to overcome the problems of high temperature creep, hot corrosion and radiation effects, as well as possibly strengthening the core properties. We therefore have submitted a proposal to develop or modify this alloy to satisfy the current requirement. This is the first step in proving the worth of development of Generation IV nuclear reactors.
If  MagnaTech or others can resolve the performance of the alloys to satisfy current pressure codes, then it is expected that the new type reactors would become commercial as early as 2030 or as late as 2050. If successful, then the advantages are that the reactor would be smaller, more efficient and built off-site. Also, at those temperatures the secondary heat could be used to make cheaper hydrogen to be used as an automotive fuel. Combining the two cost factors now make the cost of developing Generation IV reactors economical. MagnaTech looks forward to participating in the development of these new, more efficient economical, environmentally more friendly reactors to supply an ever increasing population that will require cleaner, more efficient, safe energy. MagnaTech would appreciate any input from readers who are interested in this area of development. We do need cleaner, cheaper more friendly fuels that do not increase greenhouse pollution. MagaTech would love to establish contact with all inetrested parties seeking material advances in alloy or design development within this area of research. MagnaTech appreciates your participation and awareness in this potentially revolutionary cleaner energy future.

New Nuclear Reactors for Cleaner, Lower Cost Energy

This topic brings me a long way back to the beginning of my career. At that time I was employed by Sylvania-Corning in their Research Laboratory in Bayside, New York  to develop new materials for a nuclear reactor that would permit a plane to fly continuously without ever landing. General Electric was the prime contractor. Unfortunately the reactor was so heavy compared with the lift capacity of the plane, therefore an impractical application.
However, there were many things that we developed that were incorporated into a novice nuclear program that led to the application of today's nuclear reactors for electrical energy and to the nuclear reactors that serve to power our modern submarines and aircraft carriers.
However, now forty years have passed and these reactors are being extended beyond their intended time limit of service. Efforts are still being made to extend their life for an additional twenty years.
These reactors are large and the efficiency level is decreasing as life is extended. In addition, America has remained stagnant in development and modernization of existing reactors, compared with European countries.
It is refreshing to know that the Department of Energy is now very active in programs to decrease the size of future reactors while improving efficiency at lower cost. In addition, a new factor has entered the equation. In the past we did not consider acts of terrorism to be a big issue. Now these are issues to be seriously considered and become part of the technology in developing new reactors for tomorrow.
To permit development of these  lighter efficient reactors, new concepts have been developed that require improved efficiency in cooling to permit the reactors to operate at higher temperature and pressure. Present materials will not have this capability. Therefore there is current interest in the development of new materials that can withstand the higher temperature and pressure that is anticipated. For the new concepts to be exercised these new materials and coolants and reaction to creep and corrosion become immediate areas of influence for success of the concepts. MagnaTech believes that we have some technology to offer in improvement of current and new materials and intend to actively pursue opportunities in the development of these materials. Therefore MagnaTech is interested in partnering with companies that have thermal capability to permit heat treating and reaction of materials that we believe that can improve performance of these potential reactors of tomorrow. Should you believe that you can team with MagnaTech to develop these new materials, we would be pleased to consider a partnership or consulting to develop new materials for these nuclear reactors of the future. Please contact us regarding potential commercial application.

Is There A Need For New Steels?

Hi: Price of gas down to much lower levels. However, that appears to be a sham because now that this price of gas is much more favorable, the States want to increase the cost again through taxation. Obviously there is a continual need for maintenance on the roads,  especially bridges. However, life for these things is at least 30 years and funds were established long ago, by those with vision, to maintain the assets that were constructed. Why then now are we running out of these funds and why a need for a tax increase to pay for what we have already planned for? Well that is politics, and we do not participate in that game.
However, we do have an interest in materials and materials include steel. In fact, when life was more sane, steel was the name of the game. If you wanted to get lofty and fly, then a much more expensive aluminum came into play, because of its low density.
I haven't counted the number of the steels that we have in inventory now, but I would guess a number somewhere in the thousands, including all modifications. Therefore, the question, why is the automotive industry in need of new steels? Well, these days , we can't leave politics out. In addition although fuel, called gas, was great because it provided additional freedom to go farther and see places and things that we only read about. Now, too much of a good things brings problems such as exhaust problems causing bad things such as smog and other related issues.
Well, what is the problem? Aha, it is the steels. They are much too heavy, causing us to use too much gas. Gas isn't bad; steels are.Therefore, let us get rid of those nasty steels that we have used all these years. After all, we have the greatest innovators that were ever born, and in addition we have computers that can remember all this. After all, why should we need to think about this.
Ah, but there is a solution at hand. My gosh, we have been using aluminum all these years to build gadgets that fly and we have been very innovative here. Why not get rid of those nasty steels and use aluminum. Cost, no problem. We will save the cost by saving on gasoline usage. Wow, two problems fixed. 
But how about safety/ After all steels are much stronger and therefore when road rage catches up to us and we get in an accident what bad is going to happen? Not to worry, our modern day engineers can resolve this with the aid of their trusty computer. Problem resolved.
However, we now return to the land of reality. We have a billion dollar industry in existence that has resolved our materials problems for years. Stainless steels evolved from a need to combat corrosion, Tool steels were developed to permit us to machine more and more materials, including steels,  that were harder, more complex and required closer tolerances. In fact there is a family of steels that are called superallys and these, at least in this country, evolved from the evolution of stainless steels.
Well, the steel industry is once again challenged to come up with a new family of steels that can resolve the issue of high cost gasoline plus tax, How can the industry accomplish this need? Well, current thinking is to improve the modulus of elasticity and if possible, decrease the density.  MagnaTech has some ideas regarding this area of opportunity, to resolve some of the current problems. We are currently creating a proposal to accomplish some of these objectives and are interested in partners to share the solution to this current problem. If you are interested, please contact us. We are innovators not producers, and therefore, there could be good profit for you as a manufacturer of what we can innovate. Call or email us at your convenience.Thank you.

A New Concept

Almost six months ago MagnaTech attended a meeting with a diverse group of small businesses that intend to combine with a prime contractor selling  to the government to explore how local small companies could be efficiently utilized to assist the prime in resolution of its problems. The concept was to use the association of the small local companies and their individual talents to combine with the Prime to resolve its specific problems.
At the first meeting ninety small companies were in attendance, and the concept was introduced. Several different categories where the prime was having difficulty  were explored. Ideas of strengths and resolutions were presented. Each  group presented what they considered the strength of the group. We were within a group named maintenance. As part of this group there was a company that specialized in making an instrument that diagnosed problems that occurred within the equipment supplied by the prime. Therefore we focused on the strengths of that company in a supportive roll.
As time progressed and the monthly meetings scheduled occurred, there was a continual reduction in the number of companies present at the start of each succeeding meeting. This decrease resulted because the companies did not see a fit into the final process and objective. The reasons were that as the program jelled, there were less reasons for participation.
Currently the remaining participating companies has reduced to twenty. For the last two sessions, the remaining companies have concentrated on assimulating the ideas presented into an outline that is useful to prepare to compose a White Paper that briefly presents the concept and funding required to prove whether the concept is worthy. A problem requiring solution has been identified by the prime. Now the objective is to assimulate the associated skills of the collective group to propose a resolution of the problem. The group has five pages to convince the government that the concept is valid. If accepted, then the collective would continue to write a proposal, twenty to twenty-five pages in length describing in detail how the group will act collectively to resolve the problem.
MagnaTech is interested in this and similar programs that are coming on stream as a new way of co-operation with primes to accomplish resolution of the prime's problems through the participation of small business and acceptance of ideas for a specific solution. The concept is not new, and the thrust is to provide a collective set of skills rather than a single source for resolution. This is currently a work in progress and it will be interesting in preparation and review of the White Paper. MagnaTech expects to be a strong participant in both cases. 

 

Get Out Your Grills

Just attended a webinar today and never realized that simple things like grills have a corrosion problem. Seems like that investment you made to entertain your friends on a hot summer or beautiful spring day, as you like it, is subject to being an ugly sight in just a couple of years, depending on your environment. When you stop to think about it, most of us toil at the unit, dutifully cooking our favorite specialties in food until the entire crowd is thoroughly sated and then we are too tired to clean up the mess. After all, tomorrow is another day and we will really have energy to do what we needed to do now, before we could procrastinate. In reality, in a couple of years after purchase, when we just had that brilliant idea that we should invite all our friends over again, oops! We are into a problem because the sight that we see as we are ready to cook is ugly. The inside consists of black oxide or carbide scale, if we are lucky. In worst case we can see daylight through holes that have perforated the shell. Certainly the grill and the supports are nothing to write home to mother about either.

What on earth has happened? How could this top of the line piece of equipment be in such a useless state? The problem is that most of us do not understand the damaging effect of heat and  the environment experienced by the grill. After all, we have only used it for a couple of hours and then maybe cleaned and stored it for another day. Unfortunately, over that small period of time, the grill, while at maximum usage, could have reached temperatures as high as 500 degrees centigrade. In addition there was charcoal contained therein and the atmosphere reacting to create either or carburization or oxidation. To accelerate these reactions the normal liquid products being emitted from whatever is being grilled are also dripping and wetting these hot surfaces. Should we further leave the cooling unit outside in the weather, as a thunderstorm quickly arises, more trouble. If we are at the ocean, well, even more trouble because a salt atmosphere enters the equation as well. 

Therefore not only to resolve this kind of problem but all other corrosion problems, billions of dollars are spent yearly for restoration or replacement. In other words, corrosion remains one of the most troublesome problems within the world. Replacement or restoration is therefore an expensive proposition. There is therefore a need for improved thin coatings to protect equipment sustaining increasing temperatures in harsh environments to at least extend the useful life cycle. Currently paints, plated surfaces, polymers and ceramics are used to accomplish these objectives. 

Plated surfaces are  creating problems because plated surfaces contain metals that are now considered to be harmful to health. Therefore those nice chrome plated surfaces are no longer available. Polymers are limited to lower opperating temperatures and ceramics are brittle and tend to chip. 

Therefore there  is a continual search for new coatings to protect surfaces from heat and the environment in which the unit exists. Magnatech participates in this world. We currently have five patents protecting proprietary assets using nanotechnology to create  tough, wear and corrosion resistant surfaces. We also continue to do research in this area that will either improve or restore the surfaces of parts that are subjected to these harsh environments. Perhaps your next grill will have longer life as a result of use of a MagnaTech development. In closing, MagnaTech wishes you a super spring, summer and fall entertaining your friends, hopefully with a surface that will survive all of your basic sins in creating the worst environment for their preservation. Fair Winds!

Aerospace 2016

Well, Christmas over and it is on to a new year. However, some things of the past are reluctant to leave us. In this case Aerospace is a good example. Way back, over 30 years ago, I was directed to develop the first powder metallurgy superalloys that had less than 100 ppm oxygen surface contamination. We were sucessful in introducing a powder form of Udimet 700 and B1900 that satisfied this criteria. As far as I know, these compositions are still the alloys of choice for turbine wheels. What this says is that it has been a long time since there has been meaningful improvement for alloys designated for aerospace applications. Yet the wish is to fly higher and faster in both commercial and space requirements. The current nickel and cobalt base superalloys will not permit this because of  surface deterioration or microstructural change, deteriorating required properties. In addition, surface deterioration due to erosion and corrosion is one of the most expensive problems in the materials world that requires solution. Perhaps 2016 may be the year for at least some advances to be made.
Advanced manufacturing is bringing in completely new concepts to the materials world.  It is only recently that people have started thinking of  creating alloys by melting incremental layers of powder to create shapes not possible before. In the past, there was always the consideration of material removal to create the desired shape. In  turbine components, as much as 85 % of the starting expensive superalloy material was removed to obtain the desired component. Today, using advanced manufacturing, vanes can be created that are not only to shape, but  that can also have internal passages not capable of being created in the past to permit cooling of the aircraft turbine while activated.
This technology is still in initial stages of development. It requires complex three dimensional computer programming and either laser beam or electron beam apparatus to permit melting of powder layers of micrometer thickness, using a highly directional beam of energy to melt these layers incrementally. Using this technology, both inside and outside dimensions can be changed according to the needs of the component being created. This cost of the equipment, $1,000,000,  limits the usage of the process. However, more and more components are being created using the new technology. It is particuarly useful if only one item or a few are required.
In addition to the above, the creation of powders to satisfy the property requirements of the component being created has been limited in chemical composition, and they too are expensive. However, as demand increases so too does the inventory of new powders of desired chemical composition.
Therefore, the beginning of a new year is always an exciting time. People make their wish lists at this time. It certainly will be exciting to see, as the year develops, how much advancement will be made to innovate new equipment and powder to continue to create parts not possible before, and at lower cost with less threat to the environment. Yes, 2016 looks to be a year where major problems may be resolved.

Full of Gas

Since ancient days it has been known that the world consists of solids, liquids and gases. In this issue I would like to limit my comments to the gas phase. In particular I would like to zoom in on the uses of gases in the heat treating world.
 Without solids, the heat treating world would have no need of gases. However, in discussing solids, they too must be broken down further. Solids have what is called a core, or body, and also a surface. A good correlation might be our body, with corresponding skin as the protection for it. In the case of our body or that of a solid, such as a metal, each has different constituents that determine how each will function.
In the case of the body the properties required include the ability to withstand loads under static conditions, and to have sufficient ductility to warn of potential failure in the case of overload. This is the case in design of buildings and similar type structures.
However, these applications are but a small part of the use of metals. When we consider applications that are moving, then we consider what are characterized as dynamic properties. In this case, the body is moving and in doing so, it can require properties that resist impact, torsion, bending, compression, as well as tension, If used at elevated temperatures the additional consideration of stress rupture and creep becomes of importance.
I could continue, but the purpose of this post is to discuss gases important for heat treating.
We have discussed briefly the properties required of a metal structure. The properties of the surface are entirely different. Like the human body, the surface of the metal protects it from damage from the surrounding environment that could affect its performance by weakening the body through undesirable reaction with the constituents of the external environment. A classic example of this is rust on a car, or the green tinge that occurs with time on copper alloyed building fronts or statues. This is what you see with the eye. However, with the lapse of time what you see externally can occur throughout the entire body, resulting in inability of the body to function and do its job. This can happen quickly or over a significant period of time. However, when it does, structural damage is sufficient to cause either the structure to no longer function, often with damage, or termination of life to the people expecting its ability to do its job.
In respect to the body, the constituents of gases may be important to either the creation of the required properties or to its destruction. In steels, in particular, carbon is the major alloying element, providing the required strength to sustain the loading the component is to sustain. Many gases contain carbon, such as carbon monoxide, methane, acetylene, carbon dioxide, ethane and many more. In the case of powder metallurgy parts, these are compacted from powder and, depending on the compacting pressure, porosity exists throughout the part. Depending on the density, pores may be interconnected or segregated. In the case of parts containing interconnected porosity, a gas, such as methane, can enter the body through the interconnected porosity, thereby reacting with the alloying elements present to form carbides or phases that can markedly change the properties of the alloy being heat treated. Nitrogen is another element present in gases that can also infiltrate the porosity, contributing strengthening nitrides, or entering into solid solution to strengthen the alloy. You can therefore understand that in powder metallurgy it may be possible to compact a powder that is without carbon or nitrogen, therefore softer, permitting compaction to higher density, and then use a gaseous compound, such as methane, to nicrease the strength of the steel.
However, a steel, or any other alloy, is not going to maintain these properties from the environment unless a surface is produced that will prevent contamination, such as oxygen, nitrogen or reactive compounds of the elements, to deposit on the surface and diffuse inward with time along grain boundaries to react with alloyed elements or the base metal itself to weaken the alloy, causing subsequent failure. A comparison may be like the clogging of human arteries preventing the flow of blood in the human body. Even argon, an inert gas has been found to react in superalloys where it was used to protect the surface from corrosion to cause pore formation that in time, at high temperature actuates creep, causing stress corrosion.
However, the same carbon or nitrogen components of reactive gases  may be used at the same time to advantage to react with the surface to form hard wear resistant non-reacting carbides or nitrides that prevent corrosive attack  from the environment.These reactions are classified as carburization, nitriding or carbonitriding. There are other protective surfaces that may result from reaction of boron, silicon or oxygen, depending on the alloy composition.
Corrosion is one of the most expensive problems in the materials world today, causing billions of dollars loss of material and sometimes loss of life accordingly. Therefore much of the work that MagnaTech does is directed toward the resolution of problems of reaction of the environment to cause surface deterioration causing corrosion to result. remember that Magnatech does research and does not want to enter into production. We therefore are looking for customers that wish to use our developed technology to produce surfaces, without alteration of required core properties, to resist corrosion, wear, impact and fatigue of alloy parts. As such MagnaTech has five patents that provide economical, environmental friendly protection of surfaces of steels from the environment. In addition MagnaTech has fifty years of experience in the heat treatment and  development of powder metallurgy steels and nonferrous alloys, specializing in the area of stainless steels, superalloys and alloys for magnetic applications. Should you have problems regarding heat treating or production of protective, wear resistant surfaces MagnaTech stands ready to quickly help you to resolve your problems economically in a clean and safe environment.