ANALYSIS OF A CLAD TUNGSTEN TARGET AFTER IRRADIATION IN AN 800 MeV PROTON BEAM

For the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) and the Accelerator Driven Transmutation Facility (ADTF), tungsten is being proposed as a target material to produce neutrons. Previous work showed that the mechanical properties of tungsten are degraded from irradiation in a neutron flux but little work had been performed on the irradiation of tungsten in a high energy proton beam. In this study, tungsten rods were irradiated at the 800 MeV Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) proton accelerator for six months. To avoid corrosion during irradiation, the rods were clad with a thin (0.25 mm thick) 304L or (0.125 mm thick) annealed alloy 718 tubing. After irradiation to a maximum dose in the tungsten of 23.3 dpa, the clad rods were opened in the hot cells and the tungsten was removed. The tungsten was then sliced into short compression specimens (~3mm long). Hardness tests and compression tests were performed on the tungsten rods to assess the effect of irradiation on their mechanical properties. Results show an increase in hardness with dose and irradiation temperature and an increase in yield stress with dose.