Manufacturing and testing in reactor relevant conditions of brazed plasma facing components of the ITER divertor

Abstract

A fabrication route based on brazing technology has been developed for the realization of the high heat flux components for the ITER vertical target and Dome-Liner. The divertor vertical target is armoured with carbon fiber reinforced carbon and tungsten in the lower straight part and in the upper curved part, respectively. The armour material is joined to heat sinks made of precipitation hardened copper–chromium–zirconium alloy. The plasma facing units of the dome component are based on a tungsten flat tile design with hypervapotron cooling. An innovative brazing technique based on the addition of carbon fibers to the active brazing alloy, developed by Ansaldo Ricerche for applications in the field of the energy production, has been used for the carbon fiber composite to copper joint to reduce residual stresses. The tungsten–copper joint has been realized by direct casting. A proper brazing thermal cycle has been studied to guarantee the required mechanical properties of the precipitation hardened alloy after brazing. The fabrication route of plasma facing components for the ITER vertical target and dome based on the brazing technology has been proved by means of thermal fatigue tests performed on mock-ups in reactor relevant conditions.