Worklace Pilsen

Worklace Pilsen

Address:

Morseova 1444/4
301 00 Pilsen
Czech Republic

The worklace laboratory equipment can be formally divided into four areas, including elemental and phase composition analysis, surface analysis, microstructure and substructure analysis, and study of corrosion, corrosion-fatigue and heat-fatigue processes. This division, however, be understood to some extent as a formal, as in addressing the issue, the individual areas are connected and complement each other. Also in terms of personnel, it is envisaged to interconnect individual areas. The new workplace is designed to be able to work closely with other internal and external units. This interdisciplinary cooperation should bring a significant synergy effect and lead to complex outputs and solutions.

Main goals

  • Support for the development of ferritic and martensitic steels with application potential up to 650 °C for inactive GIV nuclear reactor circuits and steam turbine components with supercritical steam parameters
  • Support for the development of materials based on austenitic steels and high-alloy nickel alloys, resistant to aggressive environments at high temperatures and pressures, for the production of components of nuclear and conventional power plants with ultra-supercritical blocks
  • Documentation of the effect of degradation mechanisms on the properties of construction materials for components of higher generations of nuclear reactors (GIII +, GIV) in inactive circuits
  • Development of new fusion welding technologies for nuclear and classical power engineering (in cooperation with the Materials Department of University in Pilsen)

Research activities

  • Support for the development of materials for the manufacture of components Nuclear Power Plants
  • Degradation mechanisms of materials
  • Development of hot melt welding of advanced materials

Device overview

Laboratory of Limit condition:

  • Servo-hydraulic machines for testing high-cyclic and low-cycle fatigue, crack propagation tracking, for performing block tests with harmonic loads and varying mean value
    • Innovation ± 400 kN / ± 2 kNm for combined load-pressure / torque load up to 800 °C
    • Innovation ± 100 kN for uniaxial loading up to 1000 °C
    • Innovation – Workplace with two servo valves with a capacity of 10 and 60 kN on a T-groove clamping plate
  • Servoelectric machines for fracture toughness tests, corrosion cracking, accelerated creep tests, creep-fatigue, combinations in the heavy metal environment, Slow Strain Rate Test in a heavy metal environment
  • Universal electromechanical blasting machine with non-contact strain gauge with force capacity ± 250 kN for tensile, pressure, 3-point bending, high temperatures up to 1100 °C with contactless deformation measurement system
  • Electromagnetic resonance machine for high cycling fatigue testing, initiation and monitoring of crack propagation
    • RUMUL – Testronic ± 250 kN, high temperatures +200 to 900 °C
  • An electrodynamic test machine for testing small samples and for testing high cycling and low cycle fatigue
    • Instron – Electropuls E10000, combined thrust-pressure/torque load
      – Axial dynamic load with force ± 10 kN, static preload ± 7 kN and torque ± 100 Nm at the same time
      – Frequency range for dynamic tests of 0.1-100 Hz
      – Up to 8 measuring amplifiers for power and torque transmitters, track and rotation sensors and deformation sensors
      – Environmental chamber for tests in temperature range -150 to 350 °C
      – High-frequency induction heating of samples up to 5 mm and 800 °C on sample surface
      – CCD camera accessories for determining frail-specific properties using small samples
  • An impact hammer (450 J/150 J) for impact bending tests at temperatures of -180 to + 300 °C, for dynamic tensile tests, for dynamic fracture toughness tests
    • InnovaTech – Nemesis 9000, zatížení 10 až 2500 N

and other equipment for instrumentation of corrosion-mechanical tests (furnaces, strain gauges, potentiometers, strain gauges, non-contact devices for 3D deformation analysis …)

Chemical Laboratories:

  • Combustion analyzer of sulfur and carbon content in metallic materials
  • Extraction analyzer of hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen content in metallic materials
  • Optical emission spectrometer with glow discharge for analysis of solid conductive and non-conducting samples with the possibility of concentration profiles
    • HORIBA GD-Profiler 2
  • Potentiometers for the study of corrosion processes by electrochemical methods, besides methods based on DC and AC current, also allow electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and electrochemical noise measurement

Materials Laboratory:

  • Fully motorized inverted metallographic microscope with DIC according to Nomarsky with image analyzer for evaluation of phase, grain sizes, inclusions, thin layers, …
  • Stereomicroscope with color camera connected to an image analyzer
  • Preparation of metallographic samples (metallographic saws, automatic grinding machine and metallographic press)
  • Profilemeter based on non-contact three-dimensional surface measurement using monochrome laser and optical lenses with vertical accuracy up to 10 nm and horizontal to 0,03 μm
    • Measurement of surface topography, depth profiles, surface roughness, …
  • Automatic micro-hardness
    • Fully automated hardness measurement (load selection, penetration, focusing and hardness evaluation)
    • Hardness measurement with a load of 10 to 10000g
    • Software for leak detection, thin films, welds, …
  • Analytical scanning electron microscope (FEGSEM) with EDX detectors, and EBSD
    • Raster electron microscope with autoimmune FEG cathode
    • Maximum sample dimensions directly into the working chamber 120x100x50 mm
    • Impact energy 0,2 – 30 keV
    • Rozlišení v SE při urychlovacím napětí 30 kV ≤ 1,2 nm
    • Chemical analysis using an EDX detector
    • Crystallographic analysis using EBSD detector with “in-site” mechanical and thermal loading test equipment → real-time observation of structural and topographic changes, max. loading force 2 000 N, max. sample exploitation temperature 600 °C
    • Analysis of conductive and non-conducting samples
    • Software for analysis of thin films, chemical composition, crystallography, measurement of lengths, angles, …