armi.materials.b4c module

Boron carbide; a very typical reactor control material.

Note that this material defaults to a theoretical density fraction of 0.9, reflecting the difficulty of producing B4C at 100% theoretical density in real life. To get different fraction, use the TD_frac material modification in your assembly definition.

class armi.materials.b4c.B4C

Bases: armi.materials.material.Material

name = 'B4C'

String identifying the material

enrichedNuclide = 'B10'

Name of enriched nuclide to be interpreted by enrichment modification methods

propertyValidTemperature = {'linear expansion percent': ((25, 500), 'C')}

Dictionary of valid temperatures over which the property models are valid in the format ‘Property Name’: ((Temperature_Lower_Limit, Temperature_Upper_Limit), Temperature_Units)

applyInputParams(B10_wt_frac=None, theoretical_density=None, TD_frac=None, *args, **kwargs)

updateTD(td: float) → None

setNewMassFracsFromMassEnrich(massEnrichment)

Calculate the mass fractions for a given mass enrichment and set it on any parent.

Parameters

massEnrichment (float) – The mass enrichment as a fraction.

Returns

boron10MassGrams, boron11MassGrams, carbonMassGrams – The resulting mass of each nuclide/element

Return type

float

Notes

B-10: 10.012 g/mol B-11: 11.009 g/mol Carbon: 12.0107 g/mol

4 moles of boron/1 mole of carbon

grams of boron-10 = 10.012 g/mol* 4 mol * 0.199 = 7.969552 g grams of boron-11 = 11.009 g/mol* 4 mol * 0.801 = 35.272836 g grams of carbon= 12.0107 g/mol * 1 mol = 12.0107 g

from number enrichment mi: mB10 = nB10*AB10 /(nB10*AB10 + nB11*AB11)

setDefaultMassFracs() → None

B4C mass fractions. Using Natural B4C. 19.9% B-10/ 80.1% B-11 Boron: 10.811 g/mol Carbon: 12.0107 g/mol

4 moles of boron/1 mole of carbon

grams of boron-10 = 10.01 g/mol* 4 mol * 0.199 = 7.96796 g grams of boron-11 = 11.01 g/mol* 4 mol * 0.801 = 35.27604 g grams of carbon= 12.0107 g/mol * 1 mol = 12.0107 g

total=55.2547 g. Mass fractions are computed from this.

static getMassEnrichmentFromNumEnrich(naturalB10NumberFraction: float) → float

pseudoDensity(Tk: Optional[float] = None, Tc: Optional[float] = None) → float

Return density that preserves mass when thermally expanded in 2D.

Notes

• applies theoretical density of B4C to parent method

density(Tk: Optional[float] = None, Tc: Optional[float] = None) → float

Return density that preserves mass when thermally expanded in 3D.

Notes

• applies theoretical density of B4C to parent method

linearExpansionPercent(Tk: Optional[float] = None, Tc: Optional[float] = None) → float

Boron carbide expansion. Very preliminary