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Thermal Conductivity Characterization of Fluoride and Chloride Molten Salts Using a Modified Transient Hot-Wire Needle Probe

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Abstract

Molten salts are being widely considered for use as high-temperature coolants in advanced nuclear reactors. There are a serious lack of experimental data pertaining to their thermophysical properties, especially thermal conductivity, which are paramount to safe thermal hydraulic design. This study seeks to measure the thermal conductivity of several molten fluoride and chloride salts using a modified transient hot-wire needle probe. Building on previous work by the same authors, the multilayered heat transfer model is expanded to account for thermal radiation interactions across the salt layer and is validated using a commercial finite-element package. Sensitivity and correlation analyses are performed to assess the time-dependent influence of critical parameters in the model, including the new radiative terms. Finally, thermal conductivity measurements are presented for LiF–NaF–KF, NaF–KF–MgF\(_{2}\), and LiCl–KCl up to 750 °C and are compared against reference correlations. Total measurement uncertainty is also quantified and tabulated, with the resulting range between ± 14.2 % and ± 29.0 %.

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Available upon request by emailing troy.munro@byu.edu.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research has come from the Department of Energy, Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP): Award \(\#\)19-17413, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Award \(\#\)31310019M0006, and the NEUP (UNLP) Graduate Fellowship. Toni Karlsson at Idaho National Laboratory provided additional funds for supplies and labor as part of INL Contract 238361.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Nuclear Energy University Program Award #19-17413, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Award #31310019M0006, and the Nuclear Energy University Program Graduate Fellowship.

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Author notes

  1. Michael Seneca, Ben Wright, Noah Cahill, Noah Petersen, Austin Fleming, and Troy Munro have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Brian Merritt, Michael Seneca, Ben Wright, Noah Cahill, Noah Petersen & Troy Munro

  2. Measurement Science Department, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, 83415, USA

    Austin Fleming

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  1. Brian Merritt
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Contributions

Conceptualization: TM and AF; Data Curation: BM; Formal Analysis: BM; Funding Acquisition: TM; Investigation: MS, BW, NC, and NP; Methodology: BM and TM; Project Administration: BM and TM; Resources: AF and TM; Software: BM and MS; Supervision: TM; Validation: BM; Visualization: BM and NP; Writing—Original Draft: BM, MS, BW, NC, and NP; Writing—Review & Editing: BM, AF, and TM.

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Correspondence to Troy Munro.

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Merritt, B., Seneca, M., Wright, B. et al. Thermal Conductivity Characterization of Fluoride and Chloride Molten Salts Using a Modified Transient Hot-Wire Needle Probe. Int J Thermophys 43, 149 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-022-03073-2

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