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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.
Changjun Li, Dahuan Zhu, Xiangbin Li, Junling Chen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 77 | Number 4 | May 2021 | Pages 310-315
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1874765
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The W-1%Y2O3-0.5%Ti composite fabricated by the spark plasma sintering method has been tested on the EMS-60 facility using 0 to 600 MW/m2 with pulse duration of 5 ms for single and 100 cycles. It is shown that the cracking threshold under single pulse of the W-1%Y2O3-0.5%Ti is close to 300 MW/m2, which exceeds that of pure tungsten (~200 MW/m2). Moreover, the crack morphology is different than that of pure W under the same heat load condition. These experimental data illustrate that the addition of dispersed oxides and alloying elements can, to some extent, ameliorate high heat load behaviors. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the melting and volatility of the second phase if the heat flux exceeds 400 MW/m2 for a single pulse will narrow the operation range of the composite. And, the severe damages of crack and matrix melting under fatigue shocks illustrate that the composite still needs further efforts to be improved by the optimization of fabrication processing.