Steam Explosion Studies with Single Drops of Molten Refractory Materials

摘要

Laser heating, levitation melting, and metal combustion were used to prepare individual drops of molten refractory materials which simulate LWR fuel melt products. Drop temperatures ranged from approx. = 1500 to > 3000K. These drops, several millimeters in diameter, were injected into water and subjected to pressure transients (approx. = 1MPa peak pressures) generated by a submerged exploding bridgewire. Molten oxides of Fe, Al and Zr could be induced to explode with bridgewire initiation. High speed films showed the explosions with exceptional clarity, and pressure transducer records could be correlated with individual frames in the films. Pressure spikes one or two MPa high were generated whenever an explosion occurred. Debris particles were mostly spheroidal, with diameters in the range 10 to 1000 mu m. (ERA citation 05:020675)