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Fusion Science and Technology
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A year in orbit: ISS deployment tests radiation detectors for future space missions
The predawn darkness on a cool Florida night was shattered by the ignition of nine Merlin engines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrust of the engines shook the ground miles away. From a distance, the rocket appeared to slowly rise above the horizon. For the cargo onboard, the launch was anything but gentle, as the ignition of liquid oxygen generated more than 1.5 million pounds of force. After the rocket had been out of sight for several minutes, the booster dramatically returned to Earth with several sonic booms in a captivating show of engineering designed to make space travel less expensive and more sustainable.
Mazhyn Skakov, Gainiya Zhanbolatova, Arman Miniyazov, Timur Tulenbergenov, Igor Sokolov, Yerzhan Sapatayev, Yernat Kozhakhmetov, Olga Bukina
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 77 | Number 1 | January 2021 | Pages 57-66
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1843885
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents the results of a study on impact of high-power heat load and tungsten (W) surface carbidization on its structural-phase composition and physical-mechanical properties. In this regard, carbidization of a W surface was carried out by means of beam-plasma discharge in a simulation machine with plasma-beam installation. Certain data were obtained regarding temperature in control points of studied samples and temperature distribution throughout the monoblock element, made as a rectangle with an orifice for a cooling path, placed in a fusion reactor divertor. The paper demonstrates that changes in heat load power have an impact on microhardness, roughness, atomization of the carbidized W surface, and phase formation processes. It was established that a heat load q = 10 MW/m2 has very little effect on the elemental composition of the surface and structural-phase composition of W samples with a carbidized layer. Growth of thermal load up to q = 20 MW/m2 leads to a noticeable transformation of tungsten monocarbide (WC) into tungsten semicarbide (W2C) and cracking of the W sample surface.