Demonstrating tungsten fiber-reinforced porous-matrix tungsten composites for future fusion application

Nuclear Fushion

article

Yiran Mao¹  Jan W. Coenen²  Alexis Terra²  Liang Gao²  Arkadi Kreter²  Marius Wirtz²  Chao Liu⁴  Chang Chen⁵  Johann Riesch⁶  Yucheng Wu¹  Christoph Broeckmann⁴  Christian Linsmeier² 

[1] School of Mechanical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology;Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik;Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin Madison;Institut für Werkstoffanwendungen im Maschinenbau ,(IWM), RWTH Aachen University;Intelligent Manufacturing of HFUT, Hefei University of Technology;Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik

关键词: tungsten fiber-reinforced tungsten;    short fibers;    porous matrix;    plasma erosion;    deuterium retention;    laser thermal shock;   

DOI  :  10.1088/1741-4326/ac8c55

来源: Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

Tungsten fiber-reinforced tungsten (W_f/W) has been developed to improve the fracture toughness of W materials, as demonstrated in previous studies (2019Nucl .Fusion59086034; 2021Mater .Sci .Eng .A817141361). In the present study, we focus on the performance of the developed W_f/W materials under fusion-relevant test conditions and further demonstrate their use as plasma facing materials in future fusion reactors. Specifically, one set of W_f/W samples was exposed to Ne plasma to investigate the erosion resistance against plasma sputtering, in comparison to the reference ITER-grade W sample. In addition, deuterium (D) retention in the plasma-exposed W_f/W samples was studied via thermal desorption spectroscopy. Furthermore, laser thermal shock tests were performed on W_f/W to simulate the transient heat load condition and to investigate the material performance under extreme heat flux. With increasing porosity, W_f/W exhibits lower mass loss (net erosion) after Ne plasma exposure. Though porous, W_f/W composites unexpectedly show a comparable D retention to the reference bulk W, which is attributed to the openness of the pores in the matrix. Thermal shock testing results indicate a similar cracking threshold (0.38 GW m⁻², 1 ms) as compared with that of ITER-grade W materials. However, due to the lower thermal conductivity of porous matrix W_f/W, under extremely high loading conditions (1.6 GW m⁻², 2 ms) surface melting was observed. The present work demonstrates the great potential of the porous matrix W_f/W for future fusion application.

【 授权许可】

Unknown