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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
F. L. Chong, J. L. Chen, X. B. Zheng
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 3 | April 2012 | Pages 236-239
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-350
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tungsten coating as a plasma-facing material on copper alloys is an important issue of a tokamak fusion device. Tungsten tile was created by means of plasma-spraying technology. The properties of the tungsten coating are as follows: low porosity of 4.7%, [approximately]92% of the theoretical tungsten bulk density, and high thermal conductivity of [approximately]79.7 W/mK, which are interesting properties for the plasma-facing material. To alleviate the stress concentration, the tile was designed with rounded edges with a radius of 5 mm. The fatigue performance of the tungsten tile was tested at 5 MW/m2 in an electron beam facility. No damage was observed after 38 cycles at 250 s per cycle. It is concluded that the rounded-edge design is helpful in reducing the maximum stress and in improving the resistant heat load property, which was proved by finite element analysis.