Papers by Keyword: Plasma Facing Material

Abstract: In-vessel tritium inventory in fusion reactors has to be reduced from a view point of safety in fusion reactors. It is required to evaluate the amount of tritium retained in tungsten plasma facing walls. The plasma discharge with hydrogen isotope (deuterium) was conducted to evaluate the tritium retention in tungsten. The glow discharges using helium, neon and argon were performed after the deuterium discharge to reduce the deuterium retention. The use of inert gas discharge little reduced the deuterium retention. Namely, the inert gas glow discharge is not useful to reduce the tritium inventory. The deuterium glow discharge significantly replaced the hydrogen in the tungsten wall into the deuterium. Thus, the deuterium glow discharge is quite useful to reduce the tritium inventory through the hydrogen isotope exchange. The use of neon or argon glow discharge followed by deuterium discharge can more reduce the tritium inventory. In addition, the tritium inventory can be easily reduced if the wall baking with a temperature of 700-800K is conducted.

Abstract: Tungsten and tungsten alloys are promising metals as protective materials for the armour in future fusion reactors. These metals exhibit the highest melting point, superior thermo-mechanical properties, low erosion and moderate neutron activation properties. The main drawback is their intrinsic brittleness at room temperature and their low recrystallization temperature. During thermal shock events in ITER, tungsten materials will exhibit various crack formations and failure mechanisms. The extensive heat loads on the surface of the material will create high thermal stresses, huge temperature rises and therefore large strain rates in the subsurface layers. This paper deals with the flow properties combining both temperature and strain rate effects of a lanthanum oxide dispersion strengthened tungsten material and the influence of grain orientation on its ductility. Promising results were obtained using a yield strength model based on a thermally-activated slip process that rationalizes the data.

Abstract: Ab-initio calculations have been performed to investigate systematically defect-impurity interaction in Tungsten and other bcc transition metals. It is found that the most stable configuration of C and N atoms is the octahedral interstitial site whereas O and H atoms are located in the tetrahedral configuration. For the particular case of bcc-W, the binding energies formed by the carbon and nitrogen atoms located at octahedral sites, and mono-vacancy on a nearest neighbor site are very large, 1.39 eV and 1.91 eV, respectively. Implication of these results of diffusion of point defects in tungsten is discussed and compared with the case of bcc-Fe.

Abstract: Molybdenum has many prominent properties, such as high melting point, good thermal properties, low erosion rate and so on, which make it promising candidate materials for plasma facing materials in the next fusion reactor. In the present work, molybdenum coatings were deposited onto the oxygen-free copper substrates by atmospheric plasma spraying. Different interlayers were introduced between the coatings and substrates. SEM, EDS and XRD were used to investigate the photographs and compositions of these coatings. The bonding strength of the coatings was tested to investigate the effect of interlayers on adhesion of the coatings at room temperature and it was found that the coating without interlayers showed the highest bonding strength. Water quenching method was used to evaluate the adhesion of the coatings under thermal cycling conditions and the results showed that the molybdenum coating with two interlayers possessed of the highest resistance of thermal cycling wrack.

Abstract: Tungsten has been decided as the plasma facing material (PFM) for some high heat flux regions of the divertor in the International Thermo-Nuclear Experimental Reactors (ITER). In this paper, our efforts concentrated on the functionally gradient W/Cu coating fabricated on the oxygen free copper by atmosphere plasma spraying under the inert gases protection. The functionally gradient W/Cu coatings were designed to relieve the thermal stress during the spraying processes. For comparison, the tungsten coatings were also deposited directly onto the copper substrates by the same technology. XRD, SEM and EDS were applied to identify the phases, morphologies and compositions of these coatings. Tensile tests were performed to measure the bonding strength between the coatings and the substrates. Furthermore, water quenching and high heat loading experiments using a pulse laser beam were also carried out to estimate the thermal shock properties of these coatings.

Abstract: This paper reports some new progresses on layered and graded coatings for plasma facing materials in fusion devices in Laboratory of Special Ceramics and Powder Metallurgy (LSCPM), University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), China. They included tungsten coatings made be various particle sizes of initial feedstock and interlayers and boron carbide graded coatings. All the coatings were fabricated on the oxygen free copper by plasma spraying. The microstructures and properties were investigated for PFM. Water quenching and high heat loading experiments were also carried out to estimate the thermal performance of these coatings.

Abstract: B4C is a promising candidate for using as plasma-facing material in fusion devices. In this paper, both B4C/Cu coating FGM (Funetionally graded material) and B4C/Cu bulk FGM containing a spectrum of 0-100% compositional distributions of B4C were fabricated by atmosphere plasma spray and ultra-high pressure consolidation respectively. The microstructure of B4C/Cu FGM showed good graded composition distribution. Water quenching and high heat loading experiments using an electron beam were carried out to evaluate the high heat load resistance of B4C/Cu FGMs. The in situ plasma irradiation in a Tokamak facility showed that the B4C/Cu bulk FGM has higher physical sputtering performance than that of B4C/Cu coating FGM.