Effect of Feeding Velocity on Wear Behavior of Graphite Ball Under Elevating Process With HTGR Fuel Handling System

Experimental platform for the research of graphite ball wear behavior under elevating process with HTGR fuel handing system was built. In the experimental platform a series of experiments on the wear behavior of graphite ball made by 10 MW High-temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-10) fuel element matrix graphite material (A3) were carried out under the conditions of nitrogen pneumatic conveying. The effect of feeding velocity on the wear rate of graphite ball was focused on. The results show that there is an obvious linear relationship between the wear rate and the feeding velocity of graphite ball elevated in the stainless steel fed tube, and the wear rate increases with the feeding velocity. The wear of graphite ball is abrasive wear under the experimental conditions, and the wear mainly is caused by the cutting action of peaks of hard stainless steel surface roughness to the graphite materials.