Loss of alkali oxide from beta´´ alumina and its importance to AMTEC life issues

Author

Williams, Roger M. ; Ryan, Margaret A. ; Phillips, Wayne M.

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

27 Jul-1 Aug 1997

Firstpage

1220

Abstract

Loss of sodium oxide into a gas phase comprised of low to high pressure sodium at typical AMTEC operating conditions does not seem indicated as a life limiting step under projected conditions. Sodium oxide loss is strongly thermally activated and strongly suppressed by external sodium gas pressure. However, loss of sodium oxide into liquid sodium may be, but is not clearly known to be, much more rapid than loss into the gas phase and could result in both BASE degradation and enhanced corrosion of other AMTEC components. This favors conservative selection of vapor-fed cell designs and may significantly influence materials selection and use of getters

Keywords

alumina; corrosion; sodium compounds; thermoelectric conversion; thermoelectric devices; AMTEC life; AMTEC operating conditions; Al₂O₃; BASE degradation; Na₂O; alkali oxide loss; beta´´ alumina; enhanced corrosion; external sodium gas pressure; gas phase; getters; high pressure sodium; liquid sodium; low pressure sodium; materials selection; thermally activated Na₂O loss; vapor-fed cell designs; Ceramics; Chemicals; Corrosion; Degradation; Gettering; Heat engines; Inorganic materials; Laboratories; Solids; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, 1997. IECEC-97., Proceedings of the 32nd Intersociety

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4515-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IECEC.1997.661942

Filename

661942