Progress in high-power-particle beams and pulsed power for industrial applications at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe

In this paper we review the progress that has been achieved at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe for several industrial scale projects based on intense particle beams and pulsed power technologies. Using intense large area pulsed electron beams thin layers at the surface of materials can be heated adiabatically above the melting point and through rapid cooling restructure or alloy the surface to improve the corrosion and wear resistance. This technique has been applied to solve the steel corrosion problem of future liquid Pb or Pb/Bi cooled accelerator driven nuclear reactors for transmutation of higher actinides and long living fission products. It has been proved that alloying the steel surface with the appropriate concentration of Al solves the corrosion problem both in stagnating and flowing Pb/Bi at temperatures up to 650° C. Further applications of pulsed electron beams to improve the properties of materials and machine parts for use under extreme conditions are discussed. A precession of the electron beam has been observed which is most likely caused by a magnetized ion hose instability resulting from a relative shift between the e-beam and a counter-stream of ions from the target. Pulsed electric fields can induce pores in the membrane of biological cells. This effect has been used to extract foodstuff from plant cells on a large scale and for bacterial contamination. New concepts have also been developed for the recycling of concrete contaminated with mineral oil. These concepts are based on the enrichment of contaminants in the fine fraction of concrete fragmented with electric pulses. All applications are based on synchronous operation of several Marx generators. For that purpose a new durable trigger system for spark gap switches has been developed.