FERNDALE – Robert Buxbaum of Oakland County’s REB Research & Consulting company has been awarded an SBIR Phase 1 grant from the Department of Energy to research new, high temperature materials for use in Fourth generation nuclear power plants that could burn waste generated by other nuclear reactors.

The primary material used in current nuclear reactors is Ti2AlNb- coated Nb-1 percent Zr. The is one of the strongest high temperature materials available. It has been used in research reactors, but has not been used commercially because it can bust into flame.

Ti2AlNb is a non-flammable, orthorhombic relative of aircraft titanium that initial tests show should bind well to Nb-1 percent Zr and offer high temperature oxidation resistance.

In the nuclear environment high temperatures are important for increased safety, and also will allow scientists to build a new type of nuclear reactor, called a breeder reactor. A breeder reactor can create new fuel, or can be used to burn up the waste generated in other nuclear reactors.

It is possible that the combination will be used elsewhere, for example, for low-weight, high temperature jet engine turbine blades.

The technique to bind these two alloys together came from Buxbaum’s work with refractory alloys for hydrogen purifiers and hydrogen generation. REB Research has been developing products in the hydrogen separation and membrane reactor area since 1982, many of them made with palladium-coated refractory alloys.

This study will measure the high temperature mechanical strength of the combined structures, along with their ability to resist oxidation, and hydrogen embitterment. In this project, Buxbaum is working with researchers in the Materials Science and Engineering Departments of Michigan State University and Iowa State University.

REB Research’s products are sold around the world., and have been sold to the nuclear programs of Westinghouse (Sweden), The (South) Korean Nuclear Rector Institute, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US. REB Research is an Oakland County Emerging Sector company.

For more information, click on Rebresearch.Com

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