R & D on mercury target pitting issue

Evaluation of Cavitation-Erosion Resistance of 316LN Stainless Steel in Mercury Containing Metallic Solutes

“…Interpretation is hampered by a lack of very short-time exposure data, but the positive intercept implies localized erosion damage of susceptible areas occurs very quickly. This explanation is consistent with previous results indicating the [4][5][6]16 development of surface roughness and shallow pits after a very few pressure cycles.…”

Status of the Spallation Neutron Source with focus on target materials

“…In particular, tests in the energy density range of beam pulses for SNS showed cavitation erosion. Many of these test apparatuses and the results of some of their respective experiments are documented in the proceedings of the earlier workshop in this series [37]. The most recent test results from the JAERI work are reported in a paper contained in the present proceedings [38].…”

Summary of cavitation erosion investigations for the SNS mercury target

“…More recently, a team of researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) observed pitting of stainless steel surfaces that were in contact with mercury subjected to large mechanically-induced pressure pulses of the same magnitude as those expected at full-power pulses in SNS [8][9][10]. In view of the JAERI results, targets used in pulsed proton beam tests before 2001 were examined, but because no pretest inspections had been performed, it was not possible to distinguish between beam-induced pits and other imperfections in the surface of the materials.…”