Overview of challenges and developments in joining tungsten and steel for future fusion reactors

0541104 - ÚFP 2021 RIV SE eng J - Journal Article
Heuer, S. - Coenen, J.W. - Pintsuk, G. - Matějíček, Jiří - Vilémová, Monika - Linsmeier, Ch.
Overview of challenges and developments in joining tungsten and steel for future fusion reactors.
Physica Scripta. Roč. 2020, January (2020), č. článku 014028. ISSN 0031-8949. E-ISSN 1402-4896
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA17-23154S
EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 633053 - EUROfusion
Institutional support: RVO:61389021
Keywords : Blanket * Demo * First wall * Nuclear fusion * Tungsten-steel joints
OECD category: Materials engineering
Impact factor: 2.487, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1402-4896/ab47a4

In future fusion reactors, the blanket is foreseen to remove heat from the reactor and enclose material to breed tritium. While the blanket structure is made of steel, for a successful operation its first wall (FW) needs to be armoured by a tungsten layer. Joining tungsten and steel is currently a key issue in engineering nuclear fusion reactors beyond ITER as will be shown in this publication. This manuscript firstly presents the influence of the joining procedure on stress and strain fields in the FW. Secondly, general aspects that need to be considered in realizing the joint are introduced and, lastly, an overview of current approaches to realize tungsten-armoured steel is given. A comparison of the challenges and approaches leads to the conclusion that all joining techniques require much more research, and that the field currently suffers from a missing programmatic research approach.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0318689