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An inter-laboratory comparison has been performed between seven participants on thermal diffusivity measurements by the laser flash method in the temperature range from 23 °C to 3000 °C. The main objective was to assess the variability and coherency of thermal diffusivity measurements performed at ultra-high temperatures at the European level. Three refractory materials (molybdenum, tungsten and isotropic graphite IG210) were selected for this inter-laboratory comparison, due to their high melting point. The disk-shaped specimens needed were machined from the same blocks of materials in order to reduce any potential scattering of results between participants due to inhomogeneity effects. The homogeneity of the sets of specimens was studied by the pilot laboratory (LNE) before launching the comparison process. Thermal diffusivity measurements were then carried out by the seven participants on the three materials during two successive thermal cycles up to the maximum temperatures that can be reached by the devices used. The analysis of results showed a good agreement between the participants for temperatures above 400 °C, with relative deviations within the uncertainties of measurement and lower than ± 4 % for molybdenum, ± 5 % for isotropic graphite and ± 9 % for tungsten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ceramic matrix composites have been identified as a potential material of core structure for the fourth generation of fission nuclear reactors. Regarding their excellent mechanical behavior in very harsh conditions (high temperature and high irradiation flux), the CVI-SiC/SiC composites with pyrocarbon interlayer are of prime interest for the fuel cladding in the gas-cooled fast reactor. Although the working atmosphere is helium in these advanced reactors, the presence of oxidizing impurities could have a significant role on the mechanical behavior of materials subjected to long-term exposures. Within this framework, this study was intended to investigate the influence of oxidation on the SiC/SiC composites mechanical properties. Different pre-damage states were intentionally introduced by mechanical tensile tests on plate specimens before performing an oxidation treatment of 1,000 h at 1,000 °C under helium with 10 ppm of O. The degradation of the composite was determined from the mechanical behavior of post-exposure specimens. Results were correlated both with microstructural observations of the damage and with characterizations of the generated oxides at the surface of the composites. The most severe decline of mechanical properties occurs for the higher predamaged loadings. Indeed in this case, the silica formed during the oxidation of SiC is not in sufficient quantities to fill the cracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]