Thermal analysis of the APT materials irradiation samples

The accelerator production of tritium (APT) project proposes to use a 1.7 GeV, 100 mA proton beam to produce neutrons from an Inconel 718 clad tungsten target. The neutrons are multiplied and moderated in a lead/water blanket before being captured in He{sup 3} to form tritium. In this process, the materials in the target and blanket region are exposed to a wide range of different fluxes comprised of protons and neutrons with energies into the GeV range. To investigate the effect of irradiation on the mechanical properties of candidate APT materials (Inconel 718, 316L stainless steel, Al 6061-T6, Mod 9Cr-1Mo, 304L stainless steel and Al5052-0), the APT Engineering Design and Development group fielded an extensive materials irradiation using the LANSCE (Los Alamos Neutron Science Center) accelerator, which operates at an energy of 800 MeV and a current of 1 mA. The test set-up was designed to place mechanical test specimens in locations in and near the proton beam where the environment of proton and neutron fluxes and temperatures are prototypic to those expected in the APT target/blanket (50--170 C). After irradiating for about 3,600 hours, the maximum achieved proton fluence was 4--5 {times} 10{sup 21}p/cm{sup 2} for the materials in the center of the beam. To obtain relevant data on the change in the mechanical properties with fluence, it is essential to know the temperature at which the materials were irradiated. This paper explains the method of determining the specimen temperature and reports some specific examples