Experimental study on fragmentation characteristics of molten stainless steel discharged into liquid Lead-Bismuth Eutectic pool

The LFR is a candidate for the Generation-IV nuclear systems, where the process of MFCI differs from that occurred in LWRs and SFRs. In the absence of experimental study and widely applied theoretical models for LFRs, experiments on the interaction between molten SS and liquid LBE are conducted in this study under eight conditions. The morphological characteristics and fragment sizes of the products are analyzed based on the hydrodynamic effect parameter (We) and thermal effect parameter (T_ic). Simplified thermal fragmentation models are established, where the innermost layer of the solidified shell is subjected to the maximum tangential compressive stress, while the outermost layer is subjected to the maximum tangential tensile stress. As the shell thickness increases, the total tangential stress of the outermost layer decreases. The fragmentation will occur when the maximum tangential stress on the shell exceeds the shell tensile strength.