Experimental study of lithium MHD flow in slotted channel from V–4Ti–4Cr alloy

Abstract: MHD pressure drop in flowing liquid metal for a tokamak with high magnetic fields is a key concern regarding the development of lithium self-cooled test module for ITER and lithium breeding blanket for DEMO-type projects. MHD losses on liquid metal pumping can be most efficiently reduced by applying of an electrically insulating coating to the inner surface of the channels. The developed method to evaluate the electrically insulating properties of a coating placed on the internal surface of a vanadium test channel is based on the pressure drop measurement in a liquid lithium forced circulation system with the test section in magnetic field. The tests were conducted on channels of V–4Ti–4Cr alloy with and without on insulating coating based on the aluminum nitride technique (AlN) . The dimensions of the test section were 6mm×20mm×320mm. The tests involved lithium flow velocities up to 3m/s, temperatures up to 400°C and a uniform transverse magnetic field up to 1.6T. The measured hydraulic resistances have shown five times reduction for the coated wall channel in comparison with the conducting wall channel. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]