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6CCVD Research

Manufacturing trials of PFCs with low thermal conductivity features for limiters

At a Glance

Section titled “At a Glance”
MetadataDetails
Publication Date2024-07-11
JournalFusion Engineering and Design
AuthorsJ. Roberts, R. H. MACDONALD, Alex Russell, James Redman, Paul Brooker
InstitutionsLeatherhead Food Research, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

Abstract

Section titled “Abstract”

In future demonstration fusion power plants, plasma facing components will face high steady state and ultra-high transient heat loads from the plasma. Introducing low thermal conductivity features to the component can reduce the peak temperatures seen by the coolant pipe during transient loads, but at the trade-off of a loss of steady-state performance. Producing low-conductivity tungsten by additive methods has been investigated elsewhere, so this trial investigates production through subtractive means i.e., conventional milling. This method preserves the original temperature limits and majority of the microstructure and is much higher Technology Readiness Level (TRL) so requires less development to reach series manufacture. In this trial, diamond drilling produced holes in monoblocks down to 0.6 mm and ligaments down to 0.7 mm, showing that this method is capable of producing small features in a controlled way. With the geometric design of lattice used in this trial, these samples achieved thermal conductivity reductions of 15% to 40%. One monoblock assembly was tested up to 1100 °C for 500 cycles in the Heating by Induction to Verify Extremes (HIVE) High Heat Flux test rig and showed no signs of ligament cracking or thermal degradation. Electromagnetic modelling has been validated against the experimental results, so future designs can be accurately modelled ahead of testing in HIVE.

Tech Support

Section titled “Tech Support”

Original Source

Section titled “Original Source”

References

Section titled “References”
  1. 2023 - Pre-conceptual design of a PFC equipped with a W lattice armour for first wall limiters in the EU-DEMO fusion reactor [Crossref]
  2. 2022 - Integrated design strategy for EU-DEMO first wall protection from plasma transients [Crossref]
  3. 2022 - Limiters for DEMO wall protection: initial design concepts & technology options [Crossref]
  4. 2016 - Progress in the engineering design and assessment of the European DEMO first wall and divertor plasma facing components [Crossref]
  5. 2021 - Comparison between finite element and experimental evidences of innovative W lattice materials for sacrificial limiter applications [Crossref]
  6. 2018 - Preliminary investigation on W foams as protection strategy for advanced FW PFCs [Crossref]
  7. 2019 - Parametric design study of a substrate material for a DEMO sacrificial limiter
  8. 2019 - Cracking in laser additively manufactured W: initiation mechanism and a suppression approach by alloying [Crossref]
  9. 2022 - Development and testing of an additively manufactured lattice for DEMO limiters
  10. 2018 - Manufacturing and testing of ITER-like divertor plasma facing mock-ups for DEMO [Crossref]

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