HIGH HEAT-FLUX TESTING OF CFC COMPOSITES FOR THE TOKAMAK PHYSICS EXPERIMENT

High heat flux (HHF) testing of carbon fiber reinforced carbon composi tes (CFC's) was conducted under the General Atomics program to develop plasma-facing components (PFC's) for Princeton Plasma Physics Laborat ory's tokamak physics experiment (TPX). As part of the process of sele cting TPX CFC materials, a series of HHF tests were conducted with the 30 kW electron beam test system (EBTS) facility at Sandia National La boratories, and with the plasma disruption simulator I (PLADIS-I) faci lity at the University of New Mexico. The purpose of the tests was to make assessments of the thermal performance and erosion behavior of CF C materials. Tests were conducted with 42 different CFC materials. In general, the CFC materials withstood the rapid thermal pulse environme nts without fracturing, delaminating, or degrading in a non-uniform ma nner; significant differences in thermal performance, erosion behavior , vapor evolution, etc, were observed and preliminary findings are pre sented below. The CFC's exposed to the hydrogen plasma pulses in PLADI S-I exhibited greater erosion rates than the CFC materials exposed to the electron-beam pulses in EBTS. The results obtained support the con tinued consideration of a variety of CFC composites for TPX PFC compon ents.