This disclosure describes various configurations and components for bimetallic and trimetallic claddings for use as a wall element separating nuclear material from an external environment. The cladding materials are suitable for use as cladding for nuclear fuel elements, particularly for fuel elements that will be exposed to sodium or other coolants or environments with a propensity to react with the nuclear fuel.

This invention presents an innovative framework for the application of machine learning for identification of alloys or composites with desired properties of interest. For each output property of interest, we identify the corresponding driving (input) factors. These input factors may include the material composition, heat treatment, process, microstructure, temperature, strain rate, environment or testing mode. Our framework assumes selection of optimization technique suitable for the application at hand and data available, starting with simple linear, or quadratic, regression analysis. We present a physics-based model for predicting the ultimate tensile strength, a model that accounts for physical dependencies, and factors in the underlying physics as a priori information. In case an artificial neural network is deemed suitable, we suggest employing custom kernel functions consistent with the underlying physics, for the purpose of attaining tighter coupling, better prediction, and extracting the most out of theusually limitedinput data available.

Disclosed is a method for preparing vanadium or vanadium alloy powder from a vanadium-containing raw material through a shortened process, including: calcinating a mixture of a vanadium-containing raw material and an alkali compound for oxidation to form a water-soluble vanadate; purifying the vanadate followed by vanadium precipitation to produce an intermediate CaV.sub.2O.sub.6 with high purity; dissolving CaV.sub.2O.sub.6 in a molten-salt medium together with other raw materials to form a uniform reaction system; and introducing a reducing agent to the system followed by separation, washing and drying to produce vanadium or vanadium alloy powder having a particle size of 50-800 nm and a purity of 99.0 wt % or more. The method can continuously process vanadium-containing raw materials to prepare vanadium or vanadium alloy powder.

A device including a near field transducer, the near field transducer including gold (Au) and at least one other secondary atom, the at least one other secondary atom selected from: boron (B), bismuth (Bi), indium (In), sulfur (S), silicon (Si), tin (Sn), hafnium (Hf), niobium (Nb), manganese (Mn), antimony (Sb), tellurium (Te), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O), and combinations thereof; erbium (Er), holmium (Ho), lutetium (Lu), praseodymium (Pr), scandium (Sc), uranium (U), zinc (Zn), and combinations thereof; and barium (Ba), chlorine (Cl), cesium (Cs), dysprosium (Dy), europium (Eu), fluorine (F), gadolinium (Gd), germanium (Ge), hydrogen (H), iodine (I), osmium (Os), phosphorus (P), rubidium (Rb), rhenium (Re), selenium (Se), samarium (Sm), terbium (Tb), thallium (Th), and combinations thereof.

The present invention provides a method for preparing ferrovanadium alloys based on aluminothermic self-propagating gradient reduction and slag washing refining. The method includes the steps of (1) performing aluminothermic self-propagating gradient reduction; (2) performing heat preserving and smelting to obtain an upper layer alumina-based slag and a lower layer alloy melt; (3) jetting refining slags into the lower layer alloy melt, and performing stirring and slag washing refining; and (4) cooling the refined high-temperature melt to room temperature, and removing an upper layer smelting slag to obtain the ferrovanadium alloys.

A vanadium alloy essentially consisting of: vanadium; and aluminium having a content of greater than 0 to 10 at %, and a process of producing thereof.

In an aspect, an electrochemical cell comprises: a positive electrode; a negative electrode, said negative electrode having an alloy having a composition comprising V; and an electrolyte; wherein an additive is provided in said electrolyte to form primary vanadate ions upon dissociation of said additive in said electrolyte; and wherein the electrochemical cell is a metal hydride battery. In some embodiments of this aspect, the alloy is configured to sorb hydrogen during charging of said electrochemical cell and desorb hydrogen during discharging of said electrochemical cell. In some embodiments of this aspect, the electrolyte has a pH selected from the range of 13 to 15.

The negative electrode for an electric device includes a current collector and an electrode layer containing a negative electrode active material, a conductive auxiliary agent and a binder and formed on a surface of the current collector, wherein the negative electrode active material contains an alloy represented by the following formula (1): Si.sub.xSn.sub.yM.sub.zA.sub.a (in the formula (1), M is at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Al, V, C and a combination thereof, A is inevitable impurities, and x, y, z and a represent mass percent values and satisfy the conditions of 0<x<100, 0<y<100, 0<z<100, 0a<0.5, and x+y+z+a=100), and elastic elongation of the current collector is 1.30% or greater.

Identifying a stable phase of a binary alloy comprising a solute element and a solvent element. In one example, at least two thermodynamic parameters associated with grain growth and phase separation of the binary alloy are determined, and the stable phase of the binary alloy is identified based on the first thermodynamic parameter and the second thermodynamic parameter, wherein the stable phase is one of a stable nanocrystalline phase, a metastable nanocrystalline phase, and a non-nanocrystalline phase. In different aspects, an enthalpy of mixing of the binary alloy may be calculated as a first thermodynamic parameter, and an enthalpy of segregation of the binary alloy may be calculated as a second thermodynamic parameter. In another example, a diagram delineating a plurality of regions respectively representing different stable phases of at least one binary alloy is employed, wherein respective regions of the plurality of regions are delineated by at least one boundary determined as a function of at least two thermodynamic parameters associated with grain growth and phase separation of the at least one binary alloy.

This disclosure describes various configurations and components for bimetallic and trimetallic claddings for use as a wall element separating nuclear material from an external environment. The cladding materials are suitable for use as cladding for nuclear fuel elements, particularly for fuel elements that will be exposed to sodium or other coolants or environments with a propensity to react with the nuclear fuel.