Effect of Specimen Orientation on the Mechanical Performance of Diffusion Bonded 316 Stainless Steel for Hybrid Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers.

Hybrid printed circuit heat exchangers (H-PCHE) consisting of plate and fin bonded to a microchannel heat-exchanger have been designed for generation IV nuclear power. This manuscript discusses the ability of 316 stainless steel (316SS) to be utilized as a candidate alloy for these H-PCHE's. Sheets of 316SS were stacked together and diffusion bonded. The tensile behavior of this diffusion bonded 316SS composite was investigated in two orientations: tensile stress applied parallel and perpendicular to the sheet plane. Different mechanical properties were found for each orientation, which has implications for modeling of performance and creep lifetimes of H-PCHEs. Further, the effect of a post-bond heat treatment was found to increased the overall ductility of the bonded specimen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]