Effects of reaction temperature and inlet oxidizing gas flow rate on IG-110 graphite oxidation used in HTR-PM

The oxidation behavior of a selected nuclear graphite (IG-110) used in Pebble-bed Module High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor was investigated under the condition of air ingress accident. The oblate rectangular specimen was oxidized by oxidant gas with oxygen mole fraction of 20% and flow rates of 125-500 ml/min at temperature of 400-1200 °C. Experiment results indicate that the oxidation behavior can also be classified into three regimes according to temperature. The regime I at 400-550 °C has lower apparent activation energies of 75.57-138.59 kJ/mol when the gas flow rate is 125-500 ml/min. In the regime II at 600-900 °C, the oxidation rate restricted by the oxygen supply to graphite is almost stable with the increase of temperature. In the regime III above 900 °C, the oxidation rate increases obviously with the increase of temperature. With the increase of inlet gas flow from 125 to 500 ml/min, the apparent activation energy in regime I is increased and the stableness of oxidation rate in regime II is reduced.