New Explorations of SMA Applications at Los Alamos National Laboratory

This presentation will showcase Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) new interest in SMA applications, their potential innovative use-cases, uncommon material systems, and its limitations. LANL is most known for its leadership in the Manhattan project, but since then it has become a frontrunner in nuclear security and renewable energy. Shortly after the dissemination of NiTiNOL in 1967, Los Alamos explored SMAs for safety applications and sought implementation of SMA heat engines; due to unreliability, this research was disbanded in the late 1970s. After a forty-year gap, LANL is again exploring the use of SMAs in a variety of applications related to nuclear waste, nuclear energy safeguards, and radiation protection. Some novel use-cases of SMAs include radiation waste sealing that eliminates the use of welding and thermally induced safety actuation in nuclear reactor environments. Other applications can make use of the shape memory effect or superelasticity. Meanwhile, the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) can assist in these research efforts by peering into the complex lattice transformations of SMAs with neutron diffraction techniques. Additive manufacturing of SMAs and implementing lattice structures are also discussed. A variety of material systems are considered including nickel-titanium, cadmium-based alloys due to its ability to absorb high energy neutron-based radiation, and uranium-based systems as we are one of few institutions capable of its handling. Some limitations in material adoption include the limited amount of data on radiation damage to SMAs and the lack of properties on unconventional alloys (i.e., Cd- and U-based systems).