Tungsten fibre-reinforced composites for advanced plasma facing components

R. Neu; J. Riesch; A.v. Müller; M. Balden; J.W. Coenen; H. Gietl; T. Höschen; M. Li; S. Wurster; J.-H. You

Nuclear Materials and Energy (Aug 2017)

Tungsten fibre-reinforced composites for advanced plasma facing components

R. Neu,
J. Riesch,
A.v. Müller,
M. Balden,
J.W. Coenen,
H. Gietl,
T. Höschen,
M. Li,
S. Wurster,
J.-H. You

Affiliations

R. Neu: Corresponding author.; Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
J. Riesch: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
A.v. Müller: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
M. Balden: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
J.W. Coenen: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
H. Gietl: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
T. Höschen: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
M. Li: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
S. Wurster: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
J.-H. You: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Fakultät für Maschinenbau, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany; Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung - Plasmaphysik, Partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC), D-52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Physics, University of Leoben, Leoben, Austria; Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-8700 Leoben, Austria

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 12
pp. 1308 – 1313

Abstract

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The European Fusion Roadmap foresees water cooled plasma facing components in a first DEMO design in order to provide enough margin for the cooling capacity and to only moderately extrapolate the technology which was developed and tested for ITER. In order to make best use of the water cooling concept copper (Cu) and copper-chromium-zirconium alloy (CuCrZr) are envisaged as heat sink whereas as armour tungsten (W) based materials will be used. Combining both materials in a high heat flux component asks for an increase of their operational range towards higher temperature in case of Cu/CuCrZr and lower temperatures for W. A remedy for both issues- brittleness of W and degrading strength of CuCrZr- could be the use of W fibres (Wf) in W and Cu based composites. Fibre preforms could be manufactured with industrially viable textile techniques. Flat textiles with a combination of 150/70 µm W wires have been chosen for layered deposition of tungsten-fibre reinforced tungsten (Wf/W) samples and tubular multi-layered braidings with W wire thickness of 50 µm were produced as a preform for tungsten-fibre reinforced copper (Wf /Cu) tubes. Cu melt infiltration was performed together with an industrial partner resulting in sample tubes without any blowholes. Property estimation by mean field homogenisation predicts strongly enhanced strength of the Wf/CuCrZr composite compared to its pure CuCrZr counterpart. Wf /W composites show very high toughness and damage tolerance even at room temperature. Cyclic load tests reveal that the extrinsic toughening mechanisms counteracting the crack growth are active and stable. FEM simulations of the Wf/W composite suggest that the influence of fibre debonding, which is an integral part of the toughening mechanisms, and reduced thermal conductivity of the fibre due to the necessary interlayers do not strongly influence the thermal properties of future components. Keywords: Plasma facing components, Tungsten, Copper, Composite materials, (Extrinsic) toughening

Published in Nuclear Materials and Energy

ISSN: 2352-1791 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Technology: Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering: Nuclear engineering. Atomic power
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/nuclear-materials-and-energy/

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