Self-triggering of small-scale fuel-coolant interactions: I. Experiments

Over 300 small-scale experiments have been performed to investigate the interaction that sometimes occurs when hot liquid metal is poured into a container of water. IN these experiments molten tin was used. The violence of each interaction was classified by measuring the ratio of the mass of comminuted tin to the original mass of tin, and the effect of varying the initial tin and water temperatures. T_f and T_c respectively, was investigated. In T_f-T_c space there exists a zone, the temperature interaction zone (TIZ), outside of which interactions do not occur without external triggering. The time between the tin entering the water, and the start of the interaction was also measured as a function of T_f and T_c.