Chemical vapor deposition diamond window as vacuum and tritium confinement barrier for fusion application

Abstract

A pressure resistant polycrystalline chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond disk for a microwave window is used for a vacuum and a tritium confinement boundary in fusion applications. A pressure test of a CVD diamond window disk (2.25 mm in thickness and 100 mm in diameter) was carried out. It was demonstrated that the diamond window tolerated 1.0 MPa (10 atm) in the plenum. The displacement of the window center for both the growth and the nucleation side on the unpressurized side is 40±1 and 41±1 μm, respectively, at the pressure of 1.0 MPa, and these values agree well with those calculated. No damage in the disk and the braze, and no vacuum leakage in the assembly was observed. This result demonstrates that the diamond window assembly could tolerate up to 1.45 MPa. It was experimentally proved that the diamond window satisfied the safety requirement of 0.5 MPa resistance for the vacuum and the tritium confinement boundary of an International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The design prospect for the diamond window of the electron cyclotron heating and current drive system is also discussed, based on the stress analysis using the ABAQUS code.