High-temperature stress evolution in brazed samples for plasma-facing components in fusion reactors

This work has been carried out to investigate, by means of neutron strain scanning, the stress field in brazed samples of interest for the construction of plasma-facing components, such as the ‘divertor’, in future fusion reactors. The investigated samples were obtained by brazing with different procedures a tungsten and a Glidcop (copper alloy) platelet. The experimentally determined evolution of the internal stress field between room temperature and 500 °C appears critically dependent on the brazing conditions, which must be taken into account in the design of real-scale components.