Preliminary study into the repair of ITER normal heat flux first wall panels

Preliminary study into the repair of ITER normal heat flux first wall panels

Preliminary study into the repair of ITER normal heat flux first wall panels 150 150 UKAEA Opendata
CCFE-PR(16)59

Preliminary study into the repair of ITER normal heat flux first wall panels

The detachment of a beryllium tile from the ITER Normal Heat Flux (NHF) First Wall (FW) panels would result in an unacceptable degradation of panel performance. Such detachment has previously been observed under High Heat flux (HHF) testing of NHF FW prototypes, with initiation of de-bonding at tile edges and subsequent delamination occurring between the copper layer and beryllium tile within the multi-material plasma-facing panel structure. These effects are applicable at both the point of post-manufacture panel acceptance testing and during future in-service operations. This has motivated the presented study of possible repair techniques that could be applied locally in order to repair defective panels to a usable state. In this preliminary study we present six potential repair techniques. For each technique joining processes and candidate materials were selected. The effect of the repair techniques on the surround materials and performance of the panels were assessed using numerical modelling and information in the literature. Out of the six potential repair techniques, two viable processes were identified which could be used to repair a panel: (i) removal of a defective tile and attachment of a new tile using a low temperature brazing process; (ii) filling the de-bonded region with copper alloy support material. This study was primarily focused on repairs at post-manufacture acceptance testing, but the techniques described could be applied to panels damaged from plasma operations with suitable targeted development.

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