Viscosity measurement of nickel and stainless steel aiming at systematic viscosity measurement for molten mixture of stainless steel and boron-carbide

Kokubo, Hiroki*; Nishi, Tsuyoshi*; Ota, Hiromichi*; Yamano, Hidemasa   

It is important to obtain the viscosity of a mixed alloy consisting of molten stainless steel and boron-carbide (SUS316L + BC alloy) for the improvement of severe accident assessment methodology for sodium-cooled fast reactors. In this study, the viscosities of the molten nickel (Ni) and stainless steel (SUS316L) were measured by the oscillating crucible method to confirm the performance of the viscosity measurement apparatus as a first step. The viscosities of molten Ni and SUS316L melts were measured up to 1823 K. It was found that the measured viscosity values of molten Ni and SUS316L were estimated from the deviation of the experimental data, were 4% and 3%, respectively. It was also found that those of molten Ni and SUS316L were close to those of the literature values of molten Ni and similar composite stainless steels. Moreover, we tentatively measured the viscosity of molten SUS316L-5 mass%BC alloy. The fitted results of the viscosity for molten Ni and SUS316L were obtained.