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Neutron flux per pulse reached world record at neutron source in Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). In the J-PARC, mercury target system is used as a spallation neutron source. A t...

Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex experienced failures of two mercury targets, which were Target #5 and #7, in 2015 when the facility was operating with a proton beam power of 500 kW. The failures involved coolant water leak from the water shroud. In this paper, we investigate the root cause of the Target #5 failure. The results of the visual inspections, mockup tests, and analytical evaluations suggested that the water leak was caused by the possible combination of two incidents. One was the diffusion bonding failure due to the large thermal stress induced by welding of the bolt head during the fabrication process, and the other was the thermal fatigue failure of the seal weld due to the repetitive beam shutdown during beam operation. Though the investigation into the root cause of the Target #7 failure is still going on, these target failures point to the importance of eliminating initial defects and the need to secure the rigidity and stability of welded structures. The next mercury tar...

Cavitation damage that might be imposed on the mercury target vessel of a pulsed spallation neutron source was evaluated from the standpoints of residual stress and plastic deformation. The residual stress distribution and plastic region of a type-316L austenitic plate, called 316SS, and that with 20% cold rolling, called 316CW, were measured using an X-ray diffraction technique. As a result of the peak width distribution in each specimen with the cavitation damage, the plastic region in the 316SS was deeper than that in the 316CW. In addition, the internal compressive residual stress of the 316SS was higher than that of the 316CW. The distributions of plastic strain and residual stress affect the crack propagation from the bottom of the pits. Taking into account the energy balance in each specimen subjected to the cavitation damage based on the distributions of plastic strain and residual stress, the difference in the fatigue limit degradation between 316SS and 316CW was explained.

Checking the seal performance of the mercury piping network is very important for the mercury target system operation of J-PARC, and the test method for leaks using the pressure change measurement is preferable for this purpose because it can be carried out easily and precisely by measuring the pressure change, and it is free from the risk of mercury contamination. The piping network is pressurized by helium gas. Thus, the correlation between the helium leak rate and mercury leak flow rate was investigated experimentally by carrying out leak tests for helium and mercury with an identical mockup flange model. The results showed that the mercury leak flow rates of the experimental data were lower than those of the estimated value by 64% on average. It was also found that the threshold of the helium leak rate at which good seal performance for mercury can be obtained exists between 2.18 × 10−4 and 1.01 × 10−2 Pa.m3/s. This fact confirmed the sufficient safety margin of the mercury target system against the m...

Liquid mercury was suggested to be used as target material for high-power pulsed spallation neutron sources. In order to realize the high-power target, however, the pressure wave is a critical issue, which is caused by the thermal shock in mercury and causes cavitation at the moment when highly intense proton beams bombard mercury. RD 1MW/25 Hz). Microbubble injection into the mercury is one of prospective technologies to mitigate the pressure wave. The microbubble effect was experimentally investigated from the viewpoint of pitting damage due to the cavitation in the mercury loop with an electro-magnetic impact testing machine (MIMTM) and numerically examined from the viewpoint of bubble dynamics. In the present study, we confirmed that the microbubble injection is very effective to reduce pitting damage and the amplitude of negative pressure, which causes explosive growth of cavitation bubble.

Liquid-mercury target systems for MW-class spallation neutron sources are being developed in the world. Proton beams will be used to induce the spallation reaction. At the moment the proton beam hits the target, pressure waves are generated in the mercury because of the abrupt heat deposition. The pressure waves interact with the target vessel leading to negative pressure that may cause cavitation along the vessel wall. Localized impacts by microjets and/or shock waves that are caused by cavitation bubble collapse impose pitting damage on the vessel wall. Bubble collapse behavior was observed by using a high-speed video camera, as well as simulated numerically. Localized impact due to cavitation bubble collapse was quantitatively estimated through comparison between numerical simulation and experiment. A novel surface treatment technique that consists of carburizing and nitriding processes was developed and the treatment condition was optimized to mitigate the pitting damage due to localized impacts.

A liquid mercury target for MW-class pulse spallation neutron sources is being developed. Failure probability analyses on the mercury target that will be installed at the material and life science facility in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) were carried out taking account of the stress condition caused by various types of loading and material degradation due to neutron irradiation and pitting damages. The mercury target consists of multi-walled vessels; a mercury vessel and a safety hull, to prevent mercury leakage to the outside, i.e., the mercury vessel that is in contact with mercury is covered by the safety hull. The failure probability of the safety hull was estimated to be lower than 10−6 for the expected designed lifetime. On the other hand, the failure probability of the mercury vessel directly subjected to thermally shocked pressure waves in mercury increased with the operation time and the protonbeam power, and was estimated to be ca. 99.9% for the designed lifetime of the...