High heat flux testing of newly developed tungsten components for WEST

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design Vol. 173; p. 112835
• Main Authors: Pintsuk, G., Missirlian, M., Luo, G.-N., Li, Q., Wang, W., Guilhem, D., Bucalossi, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.12.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd; Elsevier
• Subjects: Electron beams; Engineering Sciences; Hardness tests; Heat flux; Heat sinks; Heat transfer; High heat flux; Interlayers; Mockups; Physics; Recrystallization; Thermal cycling; Tungsten; Tungsten divertor; WEST; Tungsten divertor; WEST; High heat flux; WEST Tungsten divertor High heat flux
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112835

In preparation of the production of the actively cooled tungsten targets for the lower divertor of WEST (W -for tungsten- Environment in Steady-state Tokamak), the qualification of suppliers is done by exposing small-scale mock-ups to cyclic high heat flux tests in the electron beam facility JUDITH 1 at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Thereby, the small-scale mock-ups are based on the ITER design, consisting of 7 monoblocks mounted on a CuCrZr cooling tube and connected via a soft Cu-interlayer. The results presented herein focus on the high heat flux test results of two mock-ups produced by AT&M in China. The testing was performed by thermal cycling at 10 MW/m2 and 20 MW/m2 with a maximum of 1200 cycles at 10 MW/m2 followed by 500 cycles at 20 MW/m2 without obvious damage formation. The qualification is supported by subsequent hardness tests and microstructural analyses. The latter focus on local variation of tungsten recrystallization and macro-crack formation and deformation induced changes in the heat sink materials.