Development of strength evaluation method for high-pressure ceramic components

Japan Atomic Energy Agency is conducting R&D on nuclear hydrogen production by the Iodine-Sulfur (IS) process. Since highly corrosive materials such as sulfuric and hydriodic acids are used in the IS process, it is very important to develop components made of corrosion resistant materials. Therefore, we have been developing a sulfuric acid decomposer made of a ceramic material, that is, silicon carbide (SiC), which shows excellent corrosion resistance to sulfuric acid. One of the key technological challenges for the practical use of a ceramic sulfuric acid decomposer made of SiC is to be licensed in accordance with the High Pressure Gas Safety Act for high-pressure operations of the IS process. Since the strength of a ceramic material depends on its geometric form, etc., the strength evaluation method required for a pressure design is not established. Therefore, we propose a novel strength evaluation method for SiC structures based on the effective volume theory in order to extend the range of application of the effective volume. We also developed a design method for ceramic apparatus with the strength evaluation method in order to obtain a license in accordance with the High Pressure Gas Safety Act. In this paper, the minimum strength of SiC components was calculated by Monte Carlo simulation, and the minimum strength evaluation method of SiC components was developed by using the results of simulation. The method was confirmed by fracture test of tube model and reference data.