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3D microstructures of nuclear graphite: IG-110, NBG-18 and NG-CT-10

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Abstract

Molten salt is used as primary coolant flowing through graphite moderator channel of a molten salt reactor. Working at high temperature under radiation environment, the pore network structure of nuclear graphite should be well understood. In this paper, X-ray tomography is employed to study the 3D pore structure characteristics of nuclear grades graphite of IG-110, NBG-18 and NG-CT-10, and permeability simulation through geometries are performed. The porosity, number of pores and throats, coordination number and pore surface are obtained. NG-CT-10 is of similar microstructure to IG-110, but differs significantly from NBG-18. The absolute permeabilities of IG-110, NG-CT-10 and NBG-18 are 0.064, 0.090 and 0.106 mD, respectively. This study provides basis for future research on graphite infiltration experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453007, China

    Shi-Pei Jing, Fang Wang & Xu Wang

  2. Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiading Campus, 2019 Jia Luo Road, Jiading District, Shanghai, 201800, China

    Shi-Pei Jing, Can Zhang, Jie Pu, Hong-Yan Jiang, Hui-Hao Xia, Jian-Qiang Wang & Chan Jin

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  1. Shi-Pei Jing
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Correspondence to Chan Jin.

Additional information

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11275256 and 11179024), and Program of International S&T Cooperation (No. 2014DFG60230).

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Jing, SP., Zhang, C., Pu, J. et al. 3D microstructures of nuclear graphite: IG-110, NBG-18 and NG-CT-10. NUCL SCI TECH 27, 66 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-016-0071-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-016-0071-0

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