Seebeck coefficient measurements of lithium isotopes

Lithium, owing to its many advantages, is of immense interest to the fusion community for its use as plasma facing component (PFC) material. Various experiments are under progress in the Center for Plasma Material Interactions (CPMI) at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC) aimed at understanding the plasma-lithium interactions. In one such experiment called Solid/Liquid Lithium Divertor Experiment (SLiDE), it was recently observed that the flow of liquid lithium in the presence of magnetic fields is dominated by thermoelectric Magnetohydrodynamic (TEMHD) effects. To describe these results accurately, a knowledge of the thermoelectric properties of lithium is essential. For this purpose, an apparatus to measure the Seebeck coefficient of lithium was developed. Using this apparatus, the Seebeck coefficient of lithium as a function of temperature has been obtained. The Seebeck coefficient of lithium-7 is found to gradually increase from 11 mu V/K to 25 mu V/K, as the temperature is raised from 25 degrees C to 240 degrees C. These measurements are in good agreement with Kendall's thermoelectric measurements on natural Li. Furthermore, using the same apparatus, the thermoelectric curve of lithium-6 is obtained and for the first time are reported in this paper. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.