High Heat Flux Testing of TiC-Doped Isotropic Graphite for Plasma Facing Components

Abstract

The technical design solution for the future thermonuclear fusion reactor, ITER, must guarantee a reasonable lifetime from a safety and economical point of view. Carbon fibre reinforced carbon (CFC) is envisaged as a corrective material solution for the strike point area of ITER divertor due to its high thermal shock resistance necessary to withstand excessive heat loads during transient thermal loads; in particular plasma disruptions that can deposit energy densities of several ten MJm-2 with a typical timescale in the order of milliseconds. In this work, as potential alternative to CFCs new finely dispersed TiC-doped isotropic graphites with high thermal conductivity and mechanical strength, manufactured using synthetic mesophase pitch “AR” as raw material, have been evaluated under typical disruption conditions using an energetic electron beam at the JUDITH facility.