VRC Metal Systems, LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 13a

Description

The United States depends on its fleet of nuclear facilities for the clean and reliable generation of electricity- With the increased and growing need of electricity, additional nuclear facilities can provide the solution Generation IV Reactors, such as Advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s) are an upgraded means to nuclear thermal energy production- These SMR’s can provide up to 300 megawatts of electrical in a point specific location design, and provide a more versatile way to harness nuclear energy- Improvements to the bimetallic corrosion resistant layer can play a significant role in decreasing manufacturing time and cost to these systems making them more competitive in the energy sector markets- VRC Metal Systems, in collaboration with our academic research partner, Northeastern University, and our commercial partner, NuScale Power, propose to apply cold spray technology to complement or replace welding applications for corrosion resistance- The Cold Spray process, micro-sized metal particles accelerate supersonically toward a substrate where collision results in mechanical interlocking and metallurgical bonding- Metal particles never reach melting temperatures but are fused through adiabatic shearing processes- Substrate heating is minimized, dimensional stability is maintained, and unwanted thermal effects are avoided, making cold spray an ideal for application after reactor assembly- This novel approach will focus on the fabrication and metallurgical stability of integrating a corrosion resistant layer onto Gen IV reactors- If VRC can develop process parameters for an accepted bimetallic corrosion protection coating within the nuclear community, it will open the commercial potential into a much larger field of corrosion protection- VRC will plan to target DoD needs for their first customer base, before expanding into the commercial sector- VRC’s 5-year plan will be to integrate corrosion protection layers into components with extreme environmental conditions such as reactors, damn hydrofoils, hydraulic systems, spillways, gates, and wind turbine bases-