Abstract
To develop the manufacturing methods for the blanket first wall (FW) of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and to verify the integrity of the joint, Be/Cu mockups were fabricated and tested at the KoHLT-1 (Korea Heat Load Test facility), a graphite heater facility located at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). Since Be and Cu joining is the focus of the present study, the fabricated mockups had a CuCrZr heat sink joined with three Be tiles as an armor material, unlike the original ITER blanket FW, which has a stainless steel structure and coolant tubes. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) was carried out at $580^{\circ}C$ and 100 MPa for 2 hours as the method for Be/Cu joining. Three interlayers, namely, $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$, $1{\mu}mTi/0.5{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$, and $5{\mu}mTi/10{\mu}mCu$ were applied as a coating to the Be tiles by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. A shear test was performed with the specimens, which were fabricated by the same methods as those used to fabricate the mockups. The average values were 125 MPa to 180 MPa, and the samples with the $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ interlayer showed the lowest value. No defect or delamination was found in the joints of the mockups by the developed ultrasonic test using a flat-type probe with a 10 MHz frequency and a 0.25 inch diameter. High heat flux (HHF) tests were performed at $1.0\;MW/m^2$ heat flux for each mockup using the given conditions, and the results were analyzed by ANSYS-CFX code. For the test criteria, an expected fatigue lifetime about 1,000 cycles was obtained by analysis with ANSYS-mechanical code. Mockups using the interlayers of $1{\mu}mTi/0.5{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ and $5{\mu}mTi/10{\mu}mCu$ survived up to 1,100 cycles over the required number of cycles. However, one of the Be tiles in the other two mockups using the $1{\mu}mCr/10{\mu}mCu$ interlayer was detached during the screening test, and others were detached by discharge after 862 cycles. The integrity of the joints using the proposed interlayers was proven by the HHF test, but the other interlayer requires more study before it can be used for the joining of Be to Cu. Moreover, it was confirmed that the measured temperatures agreed well with the analysis temperatures, which were used to estimate the lifetime and that the developed facility showed its capability of the long time operation.
