Patents by Inventor Ronald B. Adamson

Ronald B. Adamson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 5805656
    Abstract: A composite zirconium alloy component that exhibits a reduced propensity for irradiation growth and enhanced corrosion resistance when in a radiation field. The component is formed to have an inner core and two oppositely-disposed outer layers that are metallurgically bonded to the inner core. The inner core and the outer layers are formed from two different zirconium alloys, with the inner core alloy contributing to the ability of the component to resist dimensional distortions as a result of irradiation growth, while the outer layer alloy contributes to the ability of the component to resist corrosion. As such, the alloys are combined within the component in a manner that exploits the different corrosion and irradiation-resistance properties of the alloys.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Ronald B. Adamson
  • Patent number: 5712888
    Abstract: An alloy having improved resistance to hydriding as well as good corrosion resistance, adequate strength, fabricability and irradiation growth. These properties make the new alloy exceptionally suited for use in boiling water reactor components such as fuel channels, fuel cladding and fuel rod spacers. The class of alloys includes zirconium-based alloys having about 0.3-1.2% tin, about 0.8-1.4% chromium, about 0.05-0.7% iron, and the remainder substantially zirconium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 27, 1998
    Assignee: General Electric Co.
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Bo-Ching Cheng
  • Patent number: 5618356
    Abstract: In a zirconium-alloy fuel element cladding, a method for generating regions of coarse and fine intermetallic precipitates across the cladding wall is provided. The method includes steps of specific heat treatments and anneals that coarsen precipitates in the bulk of the cladding. The method also includes at least one step in which an outer region (exterior) of the cladding is heated to the beta or alpha plus beta phase, while an inner region (interior) is maintained at a temperature at which little or no metallurgical change occurs. This method produces a composite cladding in which the outer region comprises fine precipitates and the inner region comprises coarse precipitates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 8, 1997
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Gerald A. Potts
  • Patent number: 5578145
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a composite cladding comprised of a moderate-purity metal barrier of zirconium metallurgically bonded on the inside surface of a zirconium alloy tube which improves corrosion resistance. The improved corrosion resistance of the liner is accomplished by suitable heat treatment of the Zircaloy-zirconium composite cladding to allow diffusion of alloying elements, notably Fe and Ni, from the Zircaloy into the zirconium, in particular, to the inner surface of the zirconium liner. This diffusion anneal reduces the undesirable tendency of zirconium liner to oxidize rapidly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1996
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Daniel R. Lutz
  • Patent number: 5539794
    Abstract: An improved stainless steel composition and an improved stainless Ni-based alloy are disclosed for use in nuclear reactor environments. The improved stainless alloys include a stainless steel and a stainless nickel based alloy that are particularly well adapted for use in reactor components that are positioned adjacent to components formed from a zirconium based metal. The improved stainless steel is an austenitic stainless steel material that include less than approximately 0.2 percent manganese by weight, but does include sufficient austenitic stabilizer to prevent a martensitic transformation during fabrication or use in a reactor environment. In one preferred embodiment, the stainless alloy is formed without any significant amount of manganese.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1994
    Date of Patent: July 23, 1996
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Alvin J. Jacobs, Gerald M. Gordon, Richard A. Proebstle, Mickey O. Marlowe, Ronald B. Adamson
  • Patent number: 5524032
    Abstract: A cladding tube having a cross-section and including (1) a zirconium alloy outer circumferential substrate having an inner surface and having one or more alloying elements, (2) a zirconium barrier layer bonded to the inner surface of the outer circumferential substrate and being alloyed with the one or more alloying elements, and (3) a zirconium alloy inner circumferential liner bonded to the inner surface of the zirconium barrier layer. The barrier layer will have a concentration profile including a diffusion layer extending from the barrier layer's inner surface (facing nuclear fuel) to the barrier layer's interior (between the barrier layer's inner and outer surfaces). At the interior edge of the diffusion layer, there will be substantially no alloying elements. At the outer edge of the diffusion layer (the barrier layer's inner surface), the maximum concentration of alloying elements will occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1994
    Date of Patent: June 4, 1996
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Daniel R. Lutz, Joseph S. Armijo, Herman S. Rosenbaum
  • Patent number: 5519748
    Abstract: A Zircaloy cladding having an outer region comprising fine precipitates and inner region comprising coarse precipitates is provided. The outer region comprises about 10% and the inner region comprises about 90% of the cladding wall thickness. Such Zircaloy tubing is resistant to propagation of cracks and at the same time resistant to corrosion in boiling water reactors (BWR). Resistance to damage caused by the pellet-cladding-interaction can be achieved by standard application of a zirconium or zirconium-alloy liner on the tubing inside surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 21, 1996
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Gerald A. Potts
  • Patent number: 5469481
    Abstract: A method is provided for forming a three-layer cladding tube having an outer substrate, a zirconium barrier layer, and an inner liner having alloying elements, in which the zirconium barrier layer (located between an outer substrate and inner liner) is at least partially alloyed with alloying elements that impart resistance to corrosion. The barrier layer has a diffusion layer extending from its inner surface (facing the fuel) to the barrier layer's interior (the interior being defined between the barrier layer's inner and outer surfaces). At the interior edge of the diffusion layer, there will be substantially no alloying elements beyond those normally present in zirconium. The methods of forming such structure include a diffusion anneal of a three-layer cladding in the range of 650.degree.-1000.degree. C. for times between about 1 minute and 20 hours. This anneal drives some of the alloying elements from the inner liner into the zirconium barrier layer to form the diffusion layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 21, 1995
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Daniel R. Lutz, Joseph S. Armijo
  • Patent number: 5437747
    Abstract: In a zirconium-alloy fuel element cladding, a method for generating regions of coarse and fine intermetallic precipitates across the cladding wall is provided. The method includes steps of specific heat treatments and anneals that coarsen precipitates in the bulk of the cladding. The method also includes at least one step in which an outer region (exterior) of the cladding is heated to the beta or alpha plus beta phase, while an inner region (interior) is maintained at a temperature at which little or no metallurgical change occurs. This method produces a composite cladding in which the outer region comprises fine precipitates and the inner region comprises coarse precipitates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 1, 1995
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Gerald A. Potts
  • Patent number: 5417780
    Abstract: A method for fabricating a composite cladding comprised of a moderate-purity metal barrier of zirconium metallurgically bonded on the inside surface of a zirconium alloy tube which improves corrosion resistance. The improved corrosion resistance of the liner is accomplished by suitable heat treatment of the Zircaloy-zirconium composite cladding to allow diffusion of alloying elements, notably Fe and Ni, from the Zircaloy into the zirconium, in particular, to the inner surface of the zirconium liner. This diffusion anneal reduces the undesirable tendency of zirconium liner to oxidize rapidly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 23, 1995
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Daniel R. Lutz
  • Patent number: 5361282
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing fuel channels made of zirconium-based alloy by combining heat treatment, warm forming and thermal sizing. Fuel channel strip material is heated to a temperature which initiates the transformation from a hexagonal close-packed to a body-centered cubic crystallographic phase and then quenched at a rate which initiates transformation to a hexagonal close-packed crystallographic phase having a texture factor f.sub.L =0.28-0.38. The heat-treated strips are formed into fuel channel components by bending at an elevated temperature sufficient to increase the ductility of the strip material. After the fuel channel components are welded together, the fuel channel is annealed by thermal sizing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1993
    Date of Patent: November 1, 1994
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Donald C. Bartosik, Eric B. Johansson, Cedric D. Williams
  • Patent number: 5305359
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing components made of zirconium-based alloy by combining heat treatment with thermal sizing. The heat treatment includes heating the component to a temperature which initiates the transformation from a hexagonal close-packed crystallographic phase of uniform texture to a body-centered cubic crystallographic phase and then quenching to a quench temperature at a rate which initiates transformation to a hexagonal close-packed crystallographic phase having a texture factor f.sub.L =0.28-0.38. The thermal sizing includes heating the component to a temperature less than the quench temperature, but sufficient to anneal the component, and then cooling. Preferably, the thermal sizing is performed twice: before and after the heat treatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 19, 1994
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ronald B. Adamson, Donald C. Bartosik, Eric B. Johansson, Cedric D. Williams
  • Patent number: 5285485
    Abstract: A composite nuclear fuel container for service in water cooled nuclear fission reactor plants having improved resistance to corrosion, and a method of producing same. The invention comprises each component of the fuel container being of specific compositions which have been heat treated to transform their microcrystalline structure in such a manner to optimize the corrosion resistance of each component of the fuel container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 1993
    Date of Patent: February 8, 1994
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Herman S. Rosenbaum, Ronald B. Adamson, Bo C. Cheng
  • Patent number: 4894203
    Abstract: Nuclear fuel elements for use in the core of a nuclear reactor include an improved composite cladding having a zirconium barrier layer metallurgically bonded on the inside surface of a zirconium alloy tube, wherein the inside surface of the barrier is alloyed with preselected elemental impurities to improve oxidation resistance. The zirconium barrier layer forms a shield between the zirconium alloy tube and a core of nuclear fuel material enclosed in the composite cladding. The alloy layer formed on the barrier surface acts to inhibit cracking during the tube production fabrication step and limits oxidation in the event that the cladding is breached during operation of the reactor, allowing the entrance of water or steam into the fuel element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1988
    Date of Patent: January 16, 1990
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Ronald B. Adamson
  • Patent number: 4451445
    Abstract: A method for controlling hydrogen charging of hydride forming metals through a window of a superimposed layer of a non-hydriding metal overlying the portion of the hydride forming metals to be charged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1982
    Date of Patent: May 29, 1984
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Bo-Ching Cheng, Ronald B. Adamson
  • Patent number: 4440862
    Abstract: Means for discriminating the corrosion susceptibility of alloys of zirconium in an environment of a water cooled, nuclear fission reactor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1981
    Date of Patent: April 3, 1984
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Bo-Ching Cheng, Ronald B. Adamson