Improvement of the Neutron Production Rate of IEC Fusion Device by the Fusion Reaction on the Inner Surface of the IEC Chamber

Bakr, Mahmoud; Masuda, Kai; Yoshida, Masaya

doi:10.1080/15361055.2019.1609821

Cited by 22 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Nevertheless, enhancing the cathodes' performance is foreseen with the operation time. Improvement in the cathode performance with the operation time was observed of other cathodes in IEC systems, such as disk-type 11 or wire-type. 18 The relationship between the measured NPR and the grid current is analyzed.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…This small NPR increase can be attributed to the removal of gas impurities from the cathode surface after heating above 800 C several times. It is noteworthy that the NPR improves 3.6 times from the same anode with a Moly disk cathode after ten years of intensive operation; 11 this was explained by an enhancement in the anode and cathode performance via fusion on the anode surface. In the present study, the anode input is discarded due to the experiment's small time frame, and hence, the cathode is the primary source of the increase in the NPR.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…3 IEC has been studied intensively during the last three decades, and its current, compact design provides a smallscale neutron source for diverse applications worldwide. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The ideal configuration of an IEC device is a spherical grid cathode surrounded by a spherical anode. A potential difference of tens of kV is applied between the electrodes to establish a potential well for trapping ions and beginning discharge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second reactions occur between energetic ions and the background gas, while the third fusion reactions occur between the energetic ions and target atoms on the electrode surfaces. 6,11,17 Details of the fusion reactions are given in Sec. III.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6,20,21 Other studies focused on the anode material in the context of improving the NPR. 11,22 Elsewhere studies use different cathode materials, operated in a cylindrical anode at < 0.1 Pa gas pressure and < 40 kV applied voltage, in the context of cathode surface fusion and its significant contribution to the NPR. 17 However, a high NPR from the IEC device is the keyword for widening the device reliability as a neutron generator for a user facility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of 3D printed buckyball-shaped cathodes of titanium and stainless-steel for IEC fusion system

et al. 2021

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An inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion device accelerates ions, such as deuterium (D) or tritium (T), to produce nuclear fusion and generate neutrons. The IEC's straightforward configuration consists of a concentric spherical transparent cathode at a negative bias surrounded by a grounded spherical anode. The effects of cathode properties on the neutron production rate (NPR) remain, to date, inadequately studied. This study aims to determine the impact of the cathode material on the NPR by investigating fusion reactions on the cathode surface. Two buckyball-shaped cathodes made of stainless steel (SS) and titanium (Ti), both of 5 cm diameter, fabricated by selective laser melting and 3D printing, are used for this investigation. A SS spherical chamber of 25 cm inner diameter is used as an anode in this experiment. A performance evaluation of surface fusion reaction in the IEC using SS and Ti grids is conducted by examining the NPR as a function of the applied voltage and grid currents at different gas pressures. So far, IEC with Ti and SS cathodes achieves NPRs of 2.32 and 1.41 Â 10 7 n/s, respectively, at 5.6 kW (70 kV, 80 mA). The normalized NPRs (NPR/I-cathode) from IEC using SS and Ti cathodes are compared. The results demonstrate that fusion reaction occurs on the cathode surface, and fusion increases with the applied voltage. The measured NPR/I-cathode using the Ti cathode is higher than that of the SS cathode by factors of 1.36-1.64 across the 20-70 kV range. Moreover, fusion on the Ti cathode surface enhances the total NPR significantly compared to the SS cathode under the same conditions. The Ti's considerable ability to accumulate D ions and molecules compared with that of SS explains the difference of measured NPR results.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%