High heat flux test of a HIP-bonded first wall panel of reduced activationferritic steel F-82H

Reduced activation ferritic steel F-82H is a primary candidate structural m aterial of DEMO fusion reactors. In fabrication technology, development of the DEMO blanket in JAERI, a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) bonding method, e specially for the first wall structure with built-in cooling tubes has been proposed. A HIP-bonded F-82H first wall panel was successfully fabricated with selected manufacturing parameters. A high heat flux test of the HIP-bo nded F-82H first wall panel has been performed to examine the thermo-mechan ical performance of the panel including the integrity of the HIP-bonded int erfaces and the fatigue behavior. A maximum heat flux of 2.7 MW/m(2) was ap plied to accelerate the fatigue test up to 5000 cycles in test blanket inse rted ITER. The maximum temperature of the panel was similar to 450 degreesC under this heat flux. Through this test campaign, no damage such as cracks was observed on the surface of the panel, and no degradation in heat remov al performance was observed either from the temperature responses. The ther mal fatigue lifetime of the panel was found to be longer than the fatigue d ata obtained by mechanical testing. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.