EXPERIMENTAL FABRICATION AND PERFORMANCE TESTING OF PARTIALLY SINTERED GADOLINIUM SPERES REGENERATOR BEDS

摘要

This work describes the performance of AMRs consisting of Gd spheres ranging 450-550 microns partiallyrnsintered by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). Their temperature span and pressure drop are compared to an equivalent regenerator bed using simply packed spheres (from the same batch of Gd spheres). The objectives are to experimentally observe if the performance of regenerators consisting of packed spheres is affected by the mobility of the particles, and if partially sintered spheres is a viable option for specific applications, i.e. replacing monolithic structures via epoxy coating. Experimental results show that packed beds and partially sintered beds induce comparable pressure drop, suggesting that no significant flow channeling affects the packed beds performance, while the sintered beds displayed reduced temperature spans, possibly due to a larger axial thermal conductivity.