Non-Oxide Ceramics: Chances for Application in Nuclear Hydrogen Production

Research and development are increasingly focusing on the provision and utilization of heat in the high-temperature range above 900 °C, in particular under the aspect of resource-saving energy technologies. On the one hand, the exploitation of the high-temperature range helps to improve the efficiency of energy conversion processes; on the other hand, the provision of high-temperature heat makes it possible to utilize innovative thermochemical processes, which in turn represent environmentally compatible processes. An example to be quoted here is the thermally induced production of hydrogen by the iodine-sulfur process. The high temperatures alone place extremely high requirements on the materials to be used so that metallic materials soon reach their limits of application. If additionally chemically aggressive process media are used, as in the iodine-sulfur process, basically only ceramic materials can be considered as construction materials. In this application, notably silicon carbide (SiC) is favored owing to its excellent high-temperature properties. The possible technical fields of application of such high-performance ceramics can be broadly extended provided that suitable, highly efficient joining methods are available for these ceramics. In addition to its use as a constructional ceramic, SiC can principally also be used as a functional ceramic. For this purpose, the basic ceramic is modified with different additives, providing it with electrical properties that permit its application as a full ceramic heat conductor or sensor. In this case, it also holds true that a suitable joining method for making electrically conductive joints will extend the fields of application considerably. Laser-based joining technologies are being developed for both applications at the Dresden University of Technology. The research work presented here notably focuses on laser joining of electrically conductive SiC ceramics. In addition to a CO₂ laser, a diode laser has been used. Basically, electrical connection has been made in two ways. In the first variants, graphite pins are inserted into the joining zone as electrically conductive bridges. In an alternative concept, the oxidic glass filler itself is made electrically conductive with additives. Like that a full ceramic heating conductor joined by means of laser radiation has been tested. The temperature resistance and functionality of the laser-joined heating conductor could be fully demonstrated.