Interface conductance between roughened Be and steel under thermal deformation

Predictability and control over temperatures and stresses are necessary in order to assure acceptable tritium release, component reliability and lifetime in solid breeder blankets. These blankets usually contain beryllium multiplier in either pebble-bed or solid block forms. For the solid block forms, uncertainties remain in the prediction of the thermal resistance between the Be and its cladding. Several parameters are important, including surface roughness and flatness, background gas pressure, and external loads which may result from blanket thermal deformations and/or pressure stresses. Differential thermal deformation between Be and steel can cause separation to occur between the two solid surfaces, which could seriously degrade the heat transfer. Existing models and data for solid—solid conductance show inconsistencies, even for steel surfaces. Little data or none exists for the Be—steel system, in which differential surface deformations are expected. In this work, we describe a new model which incorporates the combined influences of thermal deformation and contact pressure. Data were taken with small Be specimens as a function of the relevant parameters. The results show that the inclusion of non-conforming surfaces provides a richer range of behavior. Thermal deformations degrade the heat transfer by about a factor of two from flat surfaces, but this effect tends to decrease above about 100 kW m−2. Contact pressure (above about 1 MPa) between the two materials can effectively maintain good conductance. The flatness and roughness of the surfaces are the most critical parameters. The work also demonstrates the large degree of variation in conductance with background gas pressure.