nuclear grade boron carbide specification standard
Nuclear grade boron carbide specification standards mainly include ASTM standards in the United States and industry standards in China. The following is an introduction to the main ones:
- ASTM C750-2024ASTM International: Titled “Standard Specification for Nuclear-Grade Boron Carbide Powder”, it is an international standard for nuclear-grade boron carbide powder. This standard defines the chemical and physical requirements for boron carbide powder used in various nuclear applications, classifying the powder into three types. Type 1 is for use as particulate material in nuclear reactor core applications; Type 2 is for powder that will be further processed into a fabricated shape for use in a nuclear reactor core or used in non-core applications when the powder directly or indirectly may cause adverse effects on structural components; Type 3 is for powder that will be used for non-core applications or special in-core applications.
- ASTM C751-2024: Named “Standard Specification for Nuclear-Grade Boron Carbide Pellets”, it is the latest international standard for boron carbide pellets used in nuclear reactor control rods. The standard stipulates that the pellets must be prepared from boron carbide powder that meets the C750 specification. The key indicators include a total boron content of 73%-81%, nitric acid-soluble boron ≤0.5%, and chloride/fluoride ≤0.0075%/0.0025% respectively. In addition, it also has requirements for the density of the pellets.
- ASTM C791-2019ASTM International: Titled “Standard Test Methods for Chemical, Mass Spectrometric, and Spectrochemical Analysis of Nuclear-Grade Boron Carbide”, this standard provides test methods for the chemical, mass spectrometric, and spectrochemical analysis of nuclear-grade boron carbide powder and pellets to determine whether they meet the specifications, including the determination methods for total boron, total carbon, soluble boron, isotopic composition, free carbon, etc.
- YS/T 251-1994: It is the industry standard in China, named “Nuclear-grade Boron Carbide Pellets”. This standard is applicable to boron carbide pellets with a natural B10 concentration used as control materials in nuclear devices. It specifies the technical requirements for boron carbide pellets from aspects such as appearance, chemical composition, size and allowable deviation, surface condition, and physical properties. For example, in terms of chemical composition, the total boron content is required to be 73.0%-81.0%, free carbon <0.1%, fluoride ≤25μg/g, etc.