Three types of Al capsules, sealed hermetically by cold-welding, were manufactured for radioisotope production in nuclear reactors. The cold-welding was performed simply by drawing the capsules through a steel die or by pressing between steel dies, thus eliminating the demerits inherent in arc-welding, currently used. The capsules thus coldwelded were submitted to airtightness and burst tests in order to ascertain the practical acceptability of the resulting-welds.
It was found that the airtightness of the capsules was reliably high up to 300°C, and tests with He leak detector showed that the leak rate was below 10
-8atm·cc/sec in more than 95% of the capsules.
The burst pressure of the capsules exceeded 25kg/cmcm
2 at room temperature, but decreased with rising temperature, and at 300°C it was 1/2-1/4 of the room temperature value. Most of the capsules subjected to burst test broke at the position of the cold-weld. The exceptions were some of the die-press welded capsules, which ruptured in the side wall.
These tests, confirmed that the present method of sealing by cold-welding should be a safe and easy means of preparing capsules for radioisotope production.
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