Research progress on thermal load damage behavior of tungsten-based plasma facing materials

Abstract

During the operation of nuclear fusion reactors, the plasma facing tungsten-based materials need to withstand a certain number of steady-state and transient thermal loads without cracking, melting, and other damage. It is very important to improve the mechanical properties and high temperature stability of plasma facing tungsten-based materials, the current modification methods mainly include alloy strengthening, dispersion strengthening, fiber toughening, second phase strengthening, composite strengthening, and so on. The effect of modification methods on the thermal load damage behavior of tungsten-based materials was investigated in this paper, such as alloy strengthening and dispersion strengthening, the advantages and disadvantages of those strengthening methods were summarized, and the thermal load damage behavior of plasma facing tungsten-based materials was prospected.

Keywords

• nuclear fusion
• plasma facing materials
• thermal load
• alloying
• dispersion strengthening