R&D on divertor plasma facing components at the Institute for Plasma Research (original) (raw)
Related papers
Review of the high heat flux testing as an integrated part of W7-X divertor development
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2009
The subject of the development of the WENDELSTEIN 7-X divertor is the manufacturing of approximately 900 plasma facing components (PFCs) that meet all requirements for reliable long pulse and long-term plasma operation. The actively cooled PFCs are made of CFC NB31 as plasma facing material bonded by Active Metal Casting ® (AMC) copper interlayer onto CuCrZr cooling structure. The pre-series activities integrated extensive high heat flux (HHF) testing to assess the industrial manufacturing. Tests were performed in the GLADIS facility under load conditions similar to those expected during operation of W7-X. The investigations focused on the improvement of fatigue resistance of the CFC/Cu bonding. The results of the last HHF test campaign demonstrated a significant enhancement of the CFC bonding quality due to the introduction of the AMC/Cu bi-layer technology. The results of the micro-chemical analyses (using EDX, AES, XPS and SIMS) of the CFC/Cu interface performed after 5000 cycles at 10 MW/m 2 confirmed its chemical stability. Far beyond the current available data about the expected lifetime of CFC-armoured PFCs, 10,000 cycles at 10 MW/m 2 were applied without any damages at the interface. The present design and manufacturing process of the tested PFCs fulfil all requirements for W7-X operation.
High heat flux performance of brazed tungsten macro-brush test mock-up for divertors
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2013
Plasma facing components (PFCs) of divertor will be exposed to steady state and transient heat loads up to 20 MW/m 2 , during operation of ITER-like plasma fusion device. The critical task in fusion research is to design, fabricate and test of PFCs. To withstand high heat loads, PFCs are designed and fabricated in flat tile, mono-block type geometries using tungsten as plasma facing material and CuCrZr alloy is used as a heat sink. These fabricated mock-ups are tested under thermal cyclic heat loads using intense electron beam in pulsed mode. Tungsten macro-brush type of mock-up has been developed by vacuum furnace brazing route. Mock-up was tested to the absorbed heat flux in the range of 0.5-9 MW/m 2. Simulation of high heat flux (HHF) test under steady state and cyclic heat loads has been done using ANSYS12 finite element analysis (FEA) software. HHF tests have been successfully performed on the tungsten mock-up.
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2011
Qualification of tungsten (W) and graphite (C) based brazed plasma facing components (PFCs) is an important R&D area in fusion research. Pre-qualification tests for brazed joints between W-CuCrZr and C-CuCrZr using NDT (IR thermography and ultrasonic test) and thermal fatigue test are attempted. Mockups having good quality brazed joints of W and C based PFCs were identified using NDT. Subsequently, thermal fatigue test was performed on the identified mockups. All brazed tiles of W based PFC mockups could withstand thermal fatigue test, however, few tiles of C based PFC mockup were found detached. Thermal analyses of mockups are performed using finite element analysis (ANSYS) software to simulate the thermal hydraulic condition with 10 MW/m 2 uniform heat flux. Details about experimental and computational work are presented here.
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2011
The development of the fabrication technology of macro-brush configuration of tungsten (W) and carbon (graphite and CFC) plasma facing components (PFCs) for ITER like tokamak application is presented. The fabrication of qualified joint of PFC is a requirement for fusion tokamak. Vacuum brazing method has been employed for joining of W/CuCrZr and C/CuCrZr. Oxygen free high conductivity (OFHC) copper casting on W tiles was performed followed by machining, polishing and ultrasonic cleaning of the samples prior to vacuum brazing. The W/CuCrZr and graphite/CuCrZr based test mockups were vacuum brazed using silver free alloys. The mechanical shear and tensile strengths were evaluated for the W/CuCrZr and graphite/CuCrZr brazed joint samples. The micro-structural examination of the joints showed smooth interface. The details of fabrication and characterization procedure for macro-brush tungsten and carbon based PFC test mockups are presented.
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2019
The dome and reflector plate are the parts of divertor plasma facing components (PFCs) of ITER tokamak which are mainly aimed for the removal of heat load of maximum 5 MW/m 2 in steady state condition. The dome is a curved tungsten armoured component and the reflector plate is a straight component. These components have multi-layered joints made of various materials such as tungsten (W), OFHC copper (Cu), copper alloy (CuCrZr) and stainless steel (SS316LN). Joining of such multi-layered joints is known to be problematic due to joining of several dissimilar materials. In this paper, we report the indigenous development of medium size dome and reflector plate via vacuum brazing route for ITER like tokamak application. In order to evaluate the performance of the dome against ITER-like scenarios (maximum heat flux removal of 5MW/m 2), the dome has been successfully tested for 1000 number of steady-state thermal cycles at incident heat fluxes of 3.87 MW/m 2 in the High Heat Flux Test Facility (HHFTF) at IPR. Subsequent testing of additional 200 thermal cycles was also done at incident heat flux of 6 MW/m 2. During the High heat flux (HHF) tests, surface temperature of W tiles reached 640 o C and the beam power was restricted at 6MW/m 2 to limit the temperature below 450 o C at the CuCrZr heat sink. Total 1200 steady-state thermal cycles have been completed. At 6 MW/m 2 , the absorbed heat flux was 4 MW/m 2. Engineering analysis on the HHFT of the dome has been performed using Finite element method (FEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate and to correlate with the experimental data. Ultrasonic immersion technique-Non destructive testing (NDT) was used to inspect the brazed joint quality of the dome before and after the HHFT. The results of the experimental details, engineering analysis and methodology adopted to fabricate the medium size dome and reflector plate are presented here.
Helium-cooled divertor for DEMO: Manufacture and high heat flux tests of tungsten-based mock-ups
Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2009
A helium-cooled divertor concept for DEMO has been investigated extensively at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe under the EU power plant conceptual study, the goal being to demonstrate performance under heat flux of 10 MW/m 2 at least. Work covers different areas ranging from conceptual design to analysis, materials and fabrication issues to experiments. Meanwhile, the He-cooled modular divertor concept with jet cooling (HEMJ) has been proposed as reference design. In cooperation with the Efremov Institute, manufacture and high heat flux testing of divertor elements was performed for design verification and proof-of-principle. This paper focuses on the technological study of the fabrication of mock-ups from W/W alloy and Eurofer steel supporting structure material. The high heat flux test results of 2006 and 2007 are summarised and discussed.
Feasibility study of an actively cooled tungsten divertor in Tore Supra for ITER technology testing
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2011
In order to reduce the risks for ITER Plasma Facing Components (PFCs), it is proposed to equip Tore Supra with a full tungsten divertor, benefitting from the unique long pulse capabilities, the high installed RF power and the long experience with actively cooled high heat flux components of the Tore Supra platform. The transformation from the current circular limiter geometry to the required X-point configuration will be achieved by installing a set of copper poloidal coils inside the vacuum vessel. The new configuration will allow for H-mode access, providing relevant plasma conditions for PFC technology validation. Furthermore, attractive steady-state regimes are expected to be achievable. The lower divertor target design will be closely based on that currently envisaged for ITER (W monoblocks), while the upper divertor region will be used to qualify the main first wall heat sink technology adopted for the ITER blanket modules (CuCrZr copper/stainless steel) with a tungsten coating (in place of the Be tiles which ITER will use). Extended plasma exposure will provide access to ITER critical issues such as PFC lifetime (melting, cracking, etc.), tokamak operation on damaged metallic surfaces, real time heat flux control through PFC monitoring, fuel retention and dust production.
Physica Scripta, 2009
Experience has shown that the most critical part of a high heat flux (HHF) plasma facing component (PFC) is the armour to heat sink joint. An experimental study was launched in order to define acceptance criteria with regards to thermomechanical fatigue of the ITER Divertor PFCs. This study, which includes the manufacturing of samples with calibrated artificial defects relevant with the Divertor design, is reported in this paper. In particular, it was concluded that defects detectable with non-destructive examination (NDE) techniques appeared to be below the threshold of propagation during high heat flux experiments relevant with heat fluxes expected in ITER Divertor. On the basis of these results, a set of acceptance criteria was proposed and applied to the European vertical target medium-size qualification prototypes. It appeared that the ultrasonic and the SATIR NDE techniques allow to be confident in the capability of commissioning respectively W and CFC components reaching the required design values of the ITER Divertor PFCs: 98% of the inspected CFC monoblocks and 100% of W monoblock and flat tiles elements were declared acceptable.
High heat flux test of tungsten brazed mock-ups developed for KSTAR divertor
Fusion Engineering and Design, 2016
The tungsten (W) brazed flat type mock-up which consists of W, OFHC-Cu (oxygen-free high conductive copper) and CuCrZr alloy has been designed for KSTAR divertor in preparation for KSTAR upgrade with 17 MW heating power. For verification of the W brazed mock-up, the high heat flux test is performed at KoHLT-EB (Korea High Heat Load Test Facility-Electron Beam) in KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). Three mock-ups are tested for several thousand thermal cycles with absorbed heat flux up to 5 MW/m 2 for 20 s duration. There is no evidence of the failure at the bonding joints of all mock-ups after HHF test. Finite element analysis (FEA) is performed to interpret the result of the test. As a result, it is considered that the local area in the water is in the subcooled boiling regime.
Status of R&D of the Plasma Facing Components for the ITER Divertor “
The paper reports the progress made by the ITER Home Teams in the development of robust carbon and tungsten armoured plasma facing components for the ITER divertor. The activities on the development and study of armour materials, joining technologies, non-destructive evaluation techniques, high heat flux testing of manufactured components and neutron irradiation resistance studies are presented. The results of these activities confirm the feasibility of the main divertor components. Examples of the fruitful collaboration between Parties and future R&D needs are also described.