skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Irradiation effects in tungsten-copper laminate composite

Journal Article · · Journal of Nuclear Materials
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  4. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe (Germany)

Tungsten-copper laminate composite has shown promise as a structural plasma-facing component as compared to tungsten rod or plate. The present study evaluated the tungsten-copper composite after irradiation in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at temperatures of 410–780 °C and fast neutron fluences of 0.02–9.0 × 1025 n/m2, E > 0.1 MeV, 0.0039–1.76 displacements per atom (dpa) in tungsten. Tensile tests were performed on the composites, and the fracture surfaces were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy. Before irradiation, the tungsten layers had brittle cleavage failure, but the overall composite had 15.5% elongation at 22 °C. After only 0.0039 dpa this was reduced to 7.7% elongation, and no ductility was observed after 0.2 dpa at all irradiation temperatures when tensile tested at 22 °C. In conclusion, tor elevated temperature tensile tests after irradiation, the composite only had ductile failure at temperatures where the tungsten was delaminating or ductile.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1326484
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1396813
Journal Information:
Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 481, Issue C; ISSN 0022-3115
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 21 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (35)

Recent progress in research on tungsten materials for nuclear fusion applications in Europe journal January 2013
Tungsten foil laminate for structural divertor applications – Basics and outlook journal April 2012
Tungsten foil laminate for structural divertor applications – Tensile test properties of tungsten foil journal March 2013
Tungsten foil laminate for structural divertor applications – Analyses and characterisation of tungsten foil journal May 2012
Ductilisation of tungsten (W): On the shift of the brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT) to lower temperatures through cold rolling journal January 2016
Tungsten foil laminate for structural divertor applications – Joining of tungsten foils journal May 2013
Crack deflection in tungsten carbide based laminates journal May 2006
Effect of dislocation density on improved radiation hardening resistance of nano-structured tungsten–rhenium journal August 2014
Comparison of microstructure with mechanical properties of irradiated tungsten journal November 1967
Neutron irradiation effects on tungsten materials journal October 2014
Length-scale-dependent deformation mechanisms in incoherent metallic multilayered composites journal October 2005
Damage parameters of structural materials in fusion environment compared to fission reactor irradiation journal August 2012
Method for analyzing passive silicon carbide thermometry with a continuous dilatometer to determine irradiation temperature
  • Campbell, Anne A.; Porter, Wallace D.; Katoh, Yutai
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 370 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2016.01.005
journal March 2016
An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments journal June 1992
Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology journal January 2004
Numerical exploration into the potential of tungsten reinforced CuCrZr matrix composites journal March 2016
Tensile behaviour of a niobium/alumina composite laminate journal May 1994
Onset of free-edge delamination in composite laminates under tensile loading journal July 2003
High-Temperature Recovery of Tungsten after Neutron Irradiation journal December 1968
Transmutation of Mo, Re, W, Hf, and V in various irradiation test facilities and STARFIRE journal September 1994
Effects of transmutation elements on the microstructural evolution and electrical resistivity of neutron-irradiated tungsten journal April 2009
Stability and mobility of rhenium and osmium in tungsten: first principles study journal September 2014
Effects of Transmutation Elements on Neutron Irradiation Hardening of Tungsten journal January 2007
Ion-irradiation-induced clustering in W–Re and W–Re–Os alloys: A comparative study using atom probe tomography and nanoindentation measurements journal April 2015
Property change mechanism in tungsten under neutron irradiation in various reactors journal October 2011
Irradiation hardening of pure tungsten exposed to neutron irradiation journal November 2016
Specification of CuCrZr alloy properties after various thermo-mechanical treatments and design allowables including neutron irradiation effects journal October 2011
The influence of transmutation, void swelling, and flux/spectra uncertainties on the electrical properties of copper and copper alloys journal September 1994
Effects of solid transmutants and helium in copper studied by mixed-spectrum neutron irradiation journal October 1998
Microstructure and tensile properties of neutron irradiated Cu and Cu5Ni containing isotopically controlled boron journal August 1995
14 MeV neutron irradiation effects on the yield stress of highly perfect copper single crystals journal August 1985
Tensile fracture of surface-damaged composite laminates journal July 2004
Evaluation of copper alloys for fusion reactor divertor and first wall components journal October 1996
Effect of high doses of neutron irradiation on physico-mechanical properties of copper alloys for ITER applications journal April 2005
High strain rate tensile performance and microstructural evolution of Al/Cu laminated composite under dynamic loading journal August 2014

Cited By (1)

Engineering challenges for accelerated fusion demonstrators journal February 2019