Abstract
Testing of advanced materials and component mock-ups under prototypical fusion high-heat flux conditions, while historically a mainstay of fusion research has proved challenging, especially for irradiated materials. A new high-heat flux testing facility based on water-wall Plasma Arc Lamps (PALs) is now being used for materials and small component testing. Two PAL systems, utilizing a 12,000 °C plasma arc contained in a quartz tube cooled by a spiral water flow over the inside tube surface, are currently in use. The first PAL system provides a maximum incident heat flux of 4.2 MW/m2 over an area of 9x12 cm2. The second PAL available at ORNL provides a maximum incident heat flux of 27 MW/m2 over an area of 1x10 cm2. The absorbed heat fluxes into a tungsten target for the two PALs are approximately 1.97 and 12.7 MW/m2, respectively.
This paper will present the overall design of the new PAL facilities as well as the design and implementation of the Irradiated Material Target Station (IMTS). The IMTS is primarily designed for testing the effects of heat flux or thermal cycling on material coupons of interested, such as those for plasma facing components. Moreover, IMTS designs are underway to extend the testing of small mock-ups for assessing the combined heating and thermomechanical effects of cooled, irradiated components. For the testing of material “coupons”, the specimens are placed in a shallow recess within the molybdenum holder that is attached to a water-cooled copper alloy rod. As the measurement of the specimen temperature for PAL is historically challenging since traditional approaches of temperature measurement cannot be employed due to the infrared heating and proximity of the PAL reflector to the specimen that does not allow a direct line of site, experiments for temperature calibration are presented. Finally, results for the high-heat flux testing of tungsten-based materials using the PAL are presented. As a demonstration of the system, results will be shown of thermal fatigue and high-heat flux testing of tungsten coupon specimens that were neutron irradiated in the HFIR reactor to neutron dose consistent to ITER lifetime.
