Gigacycle fatigue strength evaluation of welded 316L stainless steels for mercury target vessel

Naoe, Takashi; McClintock, D.*

JPS Conference Proceedings (Internet), 45, p.011169_1 - 011169_7, 2026/06

https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.45.011169

Mercury target vessel for the pulsed spallation neutron source suffers two kinds of cyclic stress during operation. One is the thermal stress due to the internal heating and swings by proton beam trip. The other is the impulsive stress by the pressure waves generated by the proton beam injection. The total number of loading cycles for the former is , and the later is for 2 years operation in the J-PARC mercury target vessel. The target vessel is made of 316L stainless steels and assembled by electron beam welding (EBW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). However, fatigue data of welded 316L stainless steels up to gigacycle is insufficient. Ultrasonic fatigue test, applying load cycle by utilizing ultrasonic resonance, for the welded metals were performed to investigate the effect of welding on gigacycle fatigue behavior. Fatigue strength of EBW and EB+GTAW specimens including weld bead effect will be discussed.

Advancing materials studies for high-power proton accelerators in J-PARC

Makimura, Shunsuke*; Matoba, Shiro*; Sunagawa, Hikaru*; Naoe, Takashi; Wakui, Takashi; Ishida, Taku*; Matsubara, Tsurayuki*; Fukao, Yoshinori*; Takahashi, Hitoshi*; Watanabe, Hiroaki*; et al.

Proceedings of 71st ICFA Advanced Beam Dynamics workshop on High-Intensity and High-Brightness Hadron Beams (HB2025) (Internet), p.359 - 363, 2025/10

https://meow.elettra.eu/83/pdf/FRIAA01.pdf

In modern proton accelerators, the survivability of beam-intercepting devices, such as targets, beam windows and beam dumps, under intense beam irradiation is a key factor limiting the achievement of higher beam power. This article introduces the challenges faced by the secondary particle production targets and beam windows at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), and the developments undertaken to overcome these challenges.

Neutron target for high-intensity operation at J-PARC MLF

Haga, Katsuhiro; Naoe, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Wakui, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Harada, Masahide

Proceedings of 16th International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC25) (Internet), p.3245 - 3249, 2025/06

https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2025-FRXD1

In April 2024, the beam power at MLF attained 950 kW for the first time for long term user operation, and the beam power at the 3 GeV rapid cycle synchrotron (RCS) outlet was raised to 1 MW. This accomplishment means that the goal of the stable operation of the neutron source with 1 MW was almost achieved at last, and it's time to go on to the new stage of the neutron source R&D. There are two major challenges for the mercury target in the next stage. One is to attain the long-term operation of a mercury target. The service life of the target vessel is primarily determined by cavitation damage that occurs on the inner surface due to the injection of high-intensity pulsed proton beams. Until now, the vessel has been replaced annually to inspect the extent of the damage. However, based on the damage data obtained during 1 MW high-power operation, it has been determined that the vessel can withstand long-term operation for more than two years. Therefore, a new target vessel, which was replaced in 2024, is scheduled to be used for an extended period through 2027. Furthermore, since there are plans to increase the pulse intensity of the RCS in the future, it will be necessary to develop more effective pitting damage suppression techniques and new target vessels that can withstand even stronger proton beam pulses. In this presentation, the present status of the neutron source of MLF and future operation plans will be shown.

Application of indentation technique to material degradation evaluation in the mercury target vessel for spallation neutron sources

Wakui, Takashi; Saito, Shigeru; Futakawa, Masatoshi

Jikken Rikigaku, 24(4), p.212 - 218, 2024/12

Irradiation damage is one of the main factors determining the lifetime of the mercury target vessel for spallation neutron source in J-PARC. To understand material degradation of the used vessels, it is planned to conduct an evaluation using inverse analyses with indentation tests on the structural materials of the used vessels and numerical experiments. This evaluation technique was applied to two kinds of ion-irradiated materials with different displacement damage doses, in which the irradiation condition was simulated. It could be confirmed that the ultimate strength increased, and the total elongation decreased with increasing irradiation. These trends are like the material degradation behaviors which have been reported by using small specimen's tensile tests.

High sensitivity of a future search for effects of -odd/-odd interactions on the 0.75 eV -wave resonance in + forward transmission determined using a pulsed neutron beam

Nakabe, Rintaro*; Auton, C. J.*; Endo, Shunsuke; Fujioka, Hiroyuki*; Gudkov, V.*; Hirota, Katsuya*; Ide, Ikuo*; Ino, Takashi*; Ishikado, Motoyuki*; Kambara, Wataru*; et al.

Physical Review C, 109(4), p.L041602_1 - L041602_4, 2024/04

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.109.L041602

Cavitation damage prediction in mercury target for pulsed spallation neutron source using Monte Carlo simulation

Wakui, Takashi; Takagishi, Yoichi*; Futakawa, Masatoshi

Materials, 16(17), p.5830_1 - 5830_16, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16175830

Cavitation damage on the mercury target vessel is induced by proton beam injection in mercury. The prediction method of the cavitation damage using Monte Carlo simulations was proposed taking into account of the uncertainties of the position of cavitation bubbles and impact pressure distributions. The distribution of impact pressure attributed to individual cavitation bubble collapsing was assumed to be the Gaussian distribution, and the probability distribution of the maximum value of impact pressures was assumed to be three kinds of distributions; the delta function, the Gaussian and Weibull distributions. Two parameters were estimated using Bayesian optimization by comparing the distribution of the cavitation damage obtained from experiment with that of accumulated plastic strain obtained from the simulation. It was found that the results obtained using the Weibull distribution reproduced the actual cavitation erosion phenomenon better than the other results.

Cavitation damage prediction in mercury target for pulsed spallation neutron sources by Monte Carlo simulation

Wakui, Takashi; Takagishi, Yoichi*; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Tanabe, Makoto*

Jikken Rikigaku, 23(2), p.168 - 174, 2023/06

Cavitation damage on the inner surface of the mercury target for the spallation neutron source occurs by proton bombarding in mercury. The prediction method of the cavitation damage using Monte Carlo simulations was suggested taking variability of the bubble core position and impact pressure distribution into account. The impact pressure distribution was estimated using the inverse analysis with Bayesian optimization was conducted with comparison between cavitation damage distribution obtained from experiment and the cumulative plastic strain distribution obtained from simulation. The average value and spread of maximum impact pressure estimated assuming the Gaussian distribution were 3.1 GPa and 1.2 m, respectively. Simulation results reproduced experimental results and it can be said that this evaluation method is useful.

Technical note for the cavitation damage inspection for interior surface of the mercury target vessel, 1; Development of specimen cutting machine for remote handling

Naoe, Takashi; Kinoshita, Hidetaka; Wakui, Takashi; Kogawa, Hiroyuki; Haga, Katsuhiro

JAEA-Technology 2022-018, 43 Pages, 2022/08

JAEA-Technology-2022-018.pdf:7.84MB

In the liquid mercury target system for the pulsed spallation neutron source of Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), cavitation that is generated by the high-energy proton beam-induced pressure waves, resulting severe erosion damage on the interior surface of the mercury target vessel. The erosion damage is increased with increasing the proton beam power, and has the possibility to cause the leakage of mercury by the penetrated damage and/or the fatigue failure originated from erosion pits during operation. To achieve the long term stable operation under high-power proton beam, the mitigation technologies for cavitation erosion consisting of surface modification on the vessel interior surface, helium gas microbubble injection, double-walled beam window structure has been applied. The damage on interior surface of the vessel is never observed during the beam operation. Therefore, after the target operation term ends, we have cut out specimen from the target nose of the target vessel to inspect damaged surface in detail for verification of the cavitation damage mitigation technologies and lifetime estimation. We have developed the techniques of specimen cutting out by remote handling under high-radiation environment. Cutting method was gradually updated based on experience in actual cutting for the used target vessel. In this report, techniques of specimen cutting out for the beam entrance portion of the target vessel in high-radiation environment and overview of the results of specimen cutting from actual target vessels are described.

Development of mock-up test loop (IMMORTAL) for LBE spallation target

Obayashi, Hironari; Yamaki, Kenichi*; Yoshimoto, Hidemitsu*; Kita, Satoshi*; Wan, T.*; Sasa, Toshinobu

JAEA-Technology 2021-035, 66 Pages, 2022/03

JAEA-Technology-2021-035.pdf:4.26MB

Construction of Transmutation Experimental Facility (TEF) is under planning in Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) program to promote R&Ds on realization of transmutation technology by an accelerator driven system (ADS). As a facility of TEF, ADS Target Test Facility (TEF-T) will provide a spallation target to study target technology and perform post irradiation examination (PIE) of candidate materials of ADS. In ADS, lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) alloy is used as a spallation target material and a core coolant. As is well known, LBE has corrosive to structural materials hence each component of the target system should provide compatibility with LBE. In addition, instrumentations for LBE are restricted by the target operation condition such as high temperature and irradiation environment. The devices for LBE have been developed individually to achieve the LBE target system. "Integrated Multi-functional MOckup for TEF-T Real-scale TArget Loop, IMMORTAL" was fabricated as a mock-up test loop of the target for the purpose of the integration testing of individually developed devices. This report describes an overview of IMMORTAL and the design of the installed devices.

Current status and upgrading strategies of J-PARC Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) and related components

Teshigawara, Makoto; Nakamura, Mitsutaka; Kinsho, Michikazu; Soyama, Kazuhiko

JAEA-Technology 2021-022, 208 Pages, 2022/02

JAEA-Technology-2021-022.pdf:14.28MB

The Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) is an accelerator driven pulsed spallation neutron and muon source with a 1 MW proton beam. The construction began in 2004, and we started beam operation in 2008. Although problems such as exudation of cooling water from the target container have occurred, as of April 2021, the proton beam power has reached up to 700 kW gradually, and stable operation is being performed. In recent years, the operation experience of the rated 1 MW has been steadily accumulated. Several issues such as the durability of the target container have been revealed according to the increase in the operation time. Aiming at making a further improvement of MLF, we summarized the current status of achievements for the design values, such as accelerator technology (LINAC and RCS), neutron and muon source technology, beam transportation of these particles, detection technology, and neutron and muon instruments. Based on the analysis of the current status, we tried to extract improvement points for upgrade of MLF. Through these works, we will raise new proposals that promote the upgrade of MLF, attracting young people. We would like to lead to the further success of researchers and engineers who will lead the next generation.