Failure analysis of a sodium, Inconel 617 heat pipe
Abstract
A 4.57-meter (15-foot) sodium heat pipe, Inconel 617, was examined following failure. The sodium was exposed to the atmosphere following initial testing. Testing was resumed following attempts to reprocess the sodium by high-temperature outgassing. The pipe failed with intergranular cracks which completely penetrated the heat pipe wall leaking sodium to the atmosphere. Carbide precipitates and some grain boundary impurities were found in the cracked regions, which, along with the oxygen-contaminated sodium, embrittled the material. Thermal gradient-produced stresses during start-up coupled with embrittled grain boundaries appears to have resulted in the failure of the Inconel 617 sodium heat pipe.
- Publication:
-
Arizona State University Technical Report
- Pub Date:
- September 1985
- Bibcode:
- 1985asu..reptQ....J
- Keywords:
-
- Air Pollution;
- Cracks;
- Failure Analysis;
- Grain Boundaries;
- Heat Pipes;
- Outgassing;
- Precipitation (Chemistry);
- Reaction Products;
- Sodium;
- Carbides;
- Granular Materials;
- High Temperature;
- Inconel (Trademark);
- Microstructure;
- Nickel Alloys;
- Precipitates;
- Walls;
- Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer