High-temperature interaction of water vapor with lithium ceramics Li2TiO3

Abstract

Selection of materials for fusion reactors and, in particular, for blanket systems is one of the most important tasks that determine the development of fusion energy. Lithium ceramics Li2TiO3 is considered as prospective candidate for solid breeders of future fusion reactors' blankets. The paper presents the results of high-temperature tests of Li2TiO3 + 5 mol% TiO2 ceramics, performed under conditions of blowing with argon containing impurities of water vapor of different isotopic compositions (H2O, HDO, D2O) in the range of temperature from 100 °C to 1400 °C. The vapor–gas mixture for the experiment was prepared in a special mixing tank. The interaction of Li2TiO3 + 5 mol% TiO2 ceramics with chemically active gases and water vapors was investigated by thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and mass spectrometry (MS) methods. As a result of experiment, the dependences of the sample mass change during heating under single purge gas composition was obtained. Mass spectra that characterize the changes in the qualitative composition of the gas mixture in the reaction chamber with the investigated sample were recorded and subsequently analyzed. An isotope effect is observed during the experiment: the release of D2 gas begins significantly earlier than the release of HD gas. The observed effect appears only in the high-temperature region (above 1050 °C), which characterizes the investigated material as almost completely chemically neutral towards water vapor.