Publications

The Plutonium Air Transportable Package, Model PAT-1, is certified under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) per Certificate of Compliance (CoC) USA/0361B(U)F-96 (currently Revision 9). The purpose of this SAR Addendum is to incorporate plutonium (Pu) metal as a new payload for the PAT-1 package. The Pu metal is packed in an inner container (designated the T-Ampoule) that replaces the PC-1 inner container. The documentation and results from analysis contained in this addendum demonstrate that the replacement of the PC-1 and associated packaging material with the T-Ampoule and associated packaging with the addition of the plutonium metal content are not significant with respect to the design, operating characteristics, or safe performance of the containment system and prevention of criticality when the package is subjected to the tests specified in 10 CFR 71.71, 71.73 and 71.74.

The Plutonium Air Transportable Package, Model PAT-1, is certified under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) per Certificate of Compliance (CoC) USA/0361B(U)F-96 (currently Revision 9). The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) submitted SAND Report SAND2009-5822 to NRC that documented the incorporation of plutonium (Pu) metal as a new payload for the PAT-1 package. NRC responded with a Request for Additional Information (RAI), identifying information needed in connection with its review of the application. The purpose of this SAND report is to provide the authors responses to each RAI. SAND Report SAND2010-6106 containing the proposed changes to the Addendum is provided separately.

The outline of this presentation is: (1) Applications of Kovar Alloy in metal/ceramic brazing; (2) Diffusion bonding of precision-photoetched Kovar parts; (3) Sample composition and annealing conditions; (4) Intermediate temperature creep properties (350-650 C); (5) Power law creep correlations--with and without modulus correction; (6) Compressive stress-strain properties (23-900 C); (7) Effect of creep deformation on grain growth; and (8) Application of the power law creep correlation to the diffusion bonding application. The summary and conclusions are: Elevated temperature creep properties of Kovar from 750-900 C obey a power law creep equation with a stress exponent equal to 4.9, modulus compensated activation energy of 47.96 kcal/mole. Grain growth in Kovar creep samples tested at 750 and 800 C is quite sluggish. Significant grain growth occurs at 850 C and above, this is consistent with isothermal grain growth studies performed on Kovar alloy wires. Finite element analysis of the diffusion bonding of Kovar predict that stresses of 30 MPa and higher are needed for good bonding at 850 C, we believe that 'sintering' effects must be accounted for to allow FEA to be predictive of actual processing conditions. Additional creep tests are planned at 250-650 C.

Abstract not provided.

The elevated temperature creep properties of the 50Au-50Cu wt% and 47Au-50Cu-3Ni braze alloys have been evaluated over the temperature range 250-850 C. At elevated temperatures, i.e., 450-850 C, both alloys were tested in the annealed condition (2 hrs. 750 C/water quenched). The minimum strain rate properties over this temperature range are well fit by the Garofalo sinh equation. At lower temperatures (250 and 350 C), power law equations were found to characterize the data for both alloys. For samples held long periods of time at 375 C (96 hrs.) and slowly cooled to room temperature, an ordering reaction was observed. For the case of the 50Au-50Cu braze alloy, the stress necessary to reach the same, strain rate increased by about 15% above the baseline data. The limited data for ordered 47Au-50Cu-3Ni alloy reflected a,smaller strength increase. However, the sluggishness of this ordering reaction in both alloys does not appear to pose a problem for braze joints cooled at reasonable rates following brazing.

A furnace has been built for the purpose of producing anisotropic porous metals through solid-gas eutectic solidification. This process allows control of continuously formed anisotropic pores in metals and was discovered at the State Metallurgical Academic' University in Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine. The process incorporates hydrogen gas within the metal as it solidifies from the molten state. Metals which do not form hydrides, including iron, nickel, aluminum, copper and others can be formed in this manner. The furnace is housed within a ~.64 meter³ (30 ft³) ASME code stamped cylindrical stainless steel vacuum/pressure vessel. The vessel is a water chilled vertical cylinder with removable covers at the top and bottom. It can be evacuated to 20 mTorr or pressurized to 5.5 MPa (800 psi). A charge of 2700 cc (167 in³) of molten metal can be melted in a crucible in the upper portion within a watercooled 30 cm (12 in.) ID induction coil. A 175 kW Inductotherm power source energizes the coil. Vertical actuation of a ceramic stopper rod allows the molten metal to be tapped into a solidification mold beneath the melting crucible. The cylindrical mold rests on a water cooled copper base inducing directional solidification from the bottom. Mixtures of hydrogen and argon gases are introduced during the process. The system is remotely controlled and located in a structure with frangible walls specially designed for possible ambient pressure excursions as a result of equipment failure. This paper includes a general description of the furnace and operating procedure and a detailed description of the control, monitoring and interlock systems.

The process of manufacturing the MC4277 Neutron Tube requires the evacuation of the device through a 4.76 mm (.1875 in.) OD copper tube. Eight tubes are simultaneously evacuated and then baked out. When the process is completed, the tubes must be separated from the system without compromising the ultra-high vacuum in the tube and the system. Previously, a manual pinch-off tool was used. This procedure required up to 3 operators with a high probability of creating defective seals or destroyed tubes. Two new identical robotic systems were built to allow a single operator to consistently produce good tubes with perfect seals. These systems have the added capability of partially pinching off tubes at jaw displacements repeatable to *0.05 mm (kO.002 in.). Both systems have operated flawlessly since their installation in January and March, 1998. A detailed description of these systems is given in this report.

In recent years, technological advances have significantly enhanced the capability to produce milli- and micro-sized components which may be incorporated into the design of small, less costly, reproducible and more reliable nuclear weapons components. Two promising micro-scale processing technologies are Silicon surface micromachining (SMM), a process derived from microelectronics fabrication, and LIGA, a process involving electrodeposition of metals into a polymeric mask containing very fine, sharp features. Complicated SMM structures with micron sized features such as microengines, gears and pop-up mirrors have already been successfully developed. As part of an overall broad effort to develop mechanical test capability of millisized and microsized structures, a mechanical test system has been designed and assembled with the primary goal of characterizing the mechanical properties of LIGA synthesized structures and materials. The current system utilizes many off-the-shelf items including an MTS 3,000 pound 1.0 inch travel hydraulic actuator and an Interface 100 pound load cell. Load, stroke and displacement control is provided by an MTS TestStar system and two 0.100 inch LVDT displacement gages situated in a parallel arrangement at the specimen. Load resolution is on the order of 50 {micro} oz. and displacement resolution less than 45 {micro} inch. The system can test dynamically up to 100 hz at 0.005 inch actuator displacement and loads of 100 lb., statically at up to 250 lb. (limited by the load cell). The scope and flexibility of the microscale test system extends far beyond simply testing LIGA synthesized parts. A detailed description of the machine and a diverse set of results are presented in this report.

The traditional geometry for surface mount devices is the peripheral array where the leads are on the edges of the device. As the technology drives towards high input/output (I/O) count (increasing number of leads) and smaller packages with finer pitch (less distance between peripheral leads), limitations on peripheral surface mount devices arise. The leads on these fine pitch devices are fragile and can be easily bent. It becomes increasingly difficult to deliver solder past to leads spaced as little as 0.012 inch apart. Too much solder mass can result in bridging between leads while too little solder can contribute to the loss of mechanical and electrical continuity. A solution is to shift the leads from the periphery of the device to the area under the device. This scheme is called areal array packaging and is exemplified by the ball grid array (BGA) package. A system has been designed and constructed to deposit an entire array of several hundred uniform solder droplets onto a printed circuit board in a fraction of a second. The solder droplets wet to the interconnect lands on a pc board and forms a basis for later application of a BGA device. The system consists of a piezoelectric solder pulse unit, heater controls, an inert gas chamber and an analog power supply/pulse unit.

Long term mechanical creep and fatigue testing at elevated temperatures requires reliable systems with safeguards to prevent destruction of equipment, loss of data and negative environmental impacts. Toward this goal, a computer controlled system has been developed and built for interlocking tests run on elevated temperature mechanical test facilities. Sensors for water flow, water pressure, water leakage, temperature, power and hydraulic status are monitored to control specimen heating equipment through solid state relays and water solenoid valves. The system is designed to work with the default interlocks present in the RF generators and mechanical tests systems. Digital hardware consists of two National Instruments 1/0 boards mounted in a Macintosh IIci computer. Software is written in National Instruments LabVIEW. Systems interlocked include two MTS closed loop servo controlled hydraulic test frames, one with an RF generator and one with both an RF generator and a quartz lamp furnace. Control for individual test systems is modularized making the addition of more systems simple. If any of the supporting utilities fail during tests, heating systems, chill water and hydraulics are powered down, minimizing specimen damage and eliminating equipment damage. The interlock control is powered by an uninterruptible power supply. Upon failure the cause is documented in an ASCII file.

A high temperature resistance furnace has been modified for the study of directional solidification of nickel-base superalloys such as alloys 718 and 625. The furnace will be used to study segregation and solidification phenomena that occur in consumable-electrode melting processes such as vacuum arc remelting and electro-slag remelting. The system consists of a water cooled high temperature furnace (maximum temperature {approximately}2900 C), roughing vacuum,system, cooling system, cooled hearth, molten metal quenching bath, and a mechanism to lower the hearth from the furnace into the molten metal bath. The lowering mechanism is actuated by a digital stopping motor with a programmable controller. The specimen (1.9 cm dia {times} 14 cm long) is melted and contained within an alumina tube (2.54 cm dia {times} 15.24 cm long) which is seated on a copper hearth cooled with {approximately}13 C water. Directional solidification can then be accomplished by decreasing the furnace temperature while holding the specimen in position, maintaining the temperature gradient in the furnace and lowering the specimen at a controlled rate or a combination of both. At any point the specimen can be lowered rapidly into the 70 C molten metal bath to quench the specimen, preserve the solidification structure, and minimize solid state diffusion, enhancing the ability to study the localized solidification conditions.

The thermomechanical fatigue behavior of solder joints is a critical reliability issue in electronic packaging. A need exists for a thorough metallurgical understanding of solder joints in conditions of thermal fatigue. This paper presents a method to test solder joints under conditions of thermomechanical fatigue. This method involves simultaneous imposition of temperature and strain cycles on discrete solder joints in a shear orientation. The stress, microstructure, and number of cycles to failure are monitored. Cycles to failure are determined by a continuous electrical resistance detection method. 60Sn-40Pb and 40Sn-40In-20Pb solder joints were tested using this new method at 20% shear strain. 4 refs., 7 figs.

This report provides an introduction to the capabilities of a new experimental test system recently acquired by Department 1830 and installed into the Organization 1000 bay of the microelectronics Development Laboratory, Building 858. This device - the Nano..delta..Indenter/Trademark/ - is a state of the art ultra-low load indentation hardness tester. It is a computer-controlled load and depth sensing instrument with depth resolution of 0.2 nm and load resolution of 0.3 ..mu..N. Initial testing has now been performed using this machine, verifying that it will be a unique addition to our existing mechanical test capabilities. 3 refs., 8 figs.