Experimental simulation of plasma high heat flux-materials interaction during ITER disruption

Abstract

The main parameters of test facilities based on high-current coaxial plasma accelerators developed at the Efremov Institute to study PFC candidate material damage under high heat plasma fluxes with a specific energy close to the PFC ITER disruptive load are given. The extremely high values of plasma heat flux density (up to 110 MJ m −2 ) and dynamic plasma pressure (up to 15 MPa) are unique features of these facilities. Research on parameters of plasma shielding layer (SL) formed during plasma-material interaction has shown that they are close to the SL parameters predicted for short ( τ d < 1 ms) disruptions in ITER. That gives grounds for obtaining reliable results on PFC material damage in model experiments with such a disruption simulator. The test material research on the VIKA facility has shown, in particular, that the main mechanism of metal damage is the melt layer movement due to high SL plasma pressure.