Effect of Thermal Degradation on High Temperature Ultrasonic Transducer Performance in Small Modular Reactors

Prototype ultrasonic NDT transducers for use in immersion in coolants for small modular reactors have shown low signal to noise ratio. The reasons for the limitations in performance at high temperature are under investigation, and include changes in component properties. This current work seeks to quantify the issue of thermal expansion and degradation of the piezoelectric material in a transducer using a finite element method. The computational model represents an experimental set up for an ultrasonic transducer in a pulse-echo mode immersed in a liquid sodium coolant. Effect on transmitted and received ultrasonic signal due to elevated temperature (~200C) has been analysed. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of 2015 ICU Metz.