Extraction of hydrogen isotopes from molten lithium

PHD的重点是研究熔融锂在未来核聚变反应堆增殖包层系统中的使用，并研究一些不同的物理化学参数和唯象材料行为，以便能够很好地定义聚变反应堆增殖包层中熔融锂的性能。PHD将首先检查含不同浓度氢的锂在重氢(作为氚的替代品)中的熔化行为，并将研究使用气体插入和真空提取来优化这些氢同位素的提取。该项目还将检查熔融锂在包含氧化剂的不同气体(如水蒸气)中的反应性。氧和氮，以了解(I)熔融的锂通过氧化物和氢氧化物的形成而逐渐降解，(Ii)悬浮的氧化物和氢氧化物微粒对氢的提取有什么影响；以及(Iii)锂与潜在的增殖包层壁材如碳化硅、锆、消耗臭氧层物质和Eurofer钢的相互作用。将使用布里斯托尔大学界面分析中心的铀和活性金属手套箱设施，包括装有手套箱的热重分析系统以及集成炉子的氢气流量控制仪，实现实验性的博士学位。锂被公认为是核聚变的重要元素，因为轻同位素锂-6被认为是可用于以中子为基础生产氚的主要同位素，氚是聚变燃料的主要成分。

The focus of this PhD is to examine the use of molten lithium in the breeder blanket system is a future nuclear fusion reactors and to investigate a number of the different physio-chemical parameters and phenomenological material behaviours such that the performance of molten lithium inside a fusion reactor's breeder blanket can be well defined.The PhD will examine initially the melting behaviour of lithium containing different concentrations of hydrogen in deuterium (as surrogates for tritium) and will examine the use of gas insertion and vacuum extraction to optimise the extraction of these hydrogen isotopes.The project will also examine the reactivity of molten lithium when exposed to different gases containing oxidising agent such as water vapour, oxygen and nitrogen to understand (i) the gradual degradation of the molten lithium, through oxide and hydroxide formation, (ii) what effect suspended microparticles of oxide and hydroxide have on hydrogen extraction; and (iii) the interaction of lithium with potential breeder blanket wall materials e.g. SiC, Zr, ODS and Eurofer steel.The experimental PhD will be achieved using the glovebox facility for uranium and reactive metals in the Interface Analysis Centre at the University of Bristol, including a glovebox housed thermos-gravimetric analysis system as well as hydrogen gas flow-control rigs with integrated furnaces.The purpose of this PhD is to better define and optimise the extraction of hydrogen isotopes from molten lithium metal. Lithium is well recognised as being an important element for nuclear fusion in that the light isotope lithium-6 is regarded as the primary isotope that can be used for the neutron-based production of tritium - a primary component of fusion fuel.