Aec Nasa Liquid Metals Information Meeting Held In Gatlinburg Tennessee April 21 23 1965

The Corrosion Resistant Metals Committee and the Nuclear Metallurgy Committee of the Institute of Metals Division of The Metallurgical Society of AlME sponsored a 2-1/2 day symposium on "Corrosion by Liquid Metals". The symposium was held in Philadelphia, October 13-15, 1969, during the 1969 Fall Meeting of the Metallurgical Society and the Materials Engineering Con gress of the American Society for Metals. Cosponsors included the American Society for Metals and the American Nuclear Society. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together the several aspects of the subject of corrosion by liquid metals, so that perspective could be provided on the entire subject, to help in dividuals dealing with liquid metal corrosion problems acquire a sound basis of understanding, and to provide an opportunity for discussion between those doing research in this field. An exposition of the subject is timely, in view of the in creasing development of liquid metal heat and power sources for special purposes, including heat-pipe systems, NASA's SNAP power systems, and the AEC's liquid metal fast breeder reactor system. This book contains the proceedings of the symposium divided into four separate topics: I. Corrosion of Steels by Sodium, II. Alkali-Refractory Metal Interactions, III. Corrosion by Non-Alkali Metals, and IV. Analysis of Solid-Liquid Metal Inter actions (two sessions).

This publication documents Proceedings of the Symposium on Metal lurgy and Technology of Refractory Metal Alloys, held in Washington, D.C. at the Washington Hilton Hotel on April 25-26, 1968, under sponsorship of the Refractory Metals Committee, Institute of Metals Division, of the Metallurgical Society of AIME, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Symposium presented critical reviews of selected topics in refractory metal alloys, thereby contributing to an in-depth understanding of the state-of-the-art, and establishing a base line for further research, development, and application. This Symposium is fifth in a series of conferences on refractory metals, sponsored by the Metallurgical Society of AlME. Publications issuing from the conferences are valuable technical and historical source books, tracing the evolution of refractory metals from early laboratory alloying studies to their present status as useful engineering materials. Refractory metals are arbitrarily defined by melting point. A 0 melting temperature of over 3500 F was selected as the minimum for this Symposium, thus excluding chromium and vanadium, which logically could be treated with other refractory metals in Groups VA and VIA of the periodic table. The Refractory Metals Committee is planning reviews of chromium and vanadium in subsequent conferences.

This memorandum deals with the use of liquid metals in advanced spacepower plants. The principal liquid-metal candidates for such applications are mercury, NaK, potassium, lithium, cesium, and sodium. These metals are used primarily as heat-transfer media and as working fluids at high temperatures. This memorandum identifies specific areas for molten metal use and discusses the materials, problems, and developments associated with their containment. (Author).

This report presents the highlights of what has been ascertained about the interactions of liquid and vapor sodium, NaK potassium, lithium, and cesium with solid materials of potential use in practical liquid-metal systems. Data for inclusion were selected by the authors on the basis of their practical utility to designers and research workers. There has been an accelerating interest in alkali metals as (1) coolants for fast-breeder nuclear reactors, (2) coolants in space power plants, (3) Rankine-cycle working fluids in high- temperature nuclear reactors, (4) propellants in ion-propulsion engines, (5) seeding materials in magnetohydrodynamic generators, (6) space-charge dissipating media in thermionic generators, and (7) high-temperature hydraulic fluids. Prominent among the liquid-metals research efforts are studies directed toward finding the best containment material for a given alkali under a given set of operating conditions.