High heat flux testing of CFC composites for the tokamak physics experiment

Abstract High heat flux (HHF) testing of carbon fiber reinforced carbon composites (CFC's) was conducted under the General Atomics program to develop plasma-facing components (PFC's) for Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory's tokamak physics experiment (TPX). As part of the process of selecting TPX CFC materials, a series of HHF tests were conducted with the 30 kW electron beam test system (EBTS) facility at Sandia National Laboratories, and with the plasma disruption simulator I (PLADIS-I) facility at the University of New Mexico. The purpose of the tests was to make assessments of the thermal performance and erosion behavior of CFC materials. Tests were conducted with 42 different CFC materials. In general, the CFC materials withstood the rapid thermal pulse environments without fracturing, delaminating, or degrading in a non-uniform manner; significant differences in thermal performance, erosion behavior, vapor evolution, etc. were observed and preliminary findings are presented below. The CFC's exposed to the hydrogen plasma pulses in PLADIS-I exhibited greater erosion rates than the CFC materials exposed to the electron-beam pulses in EBTS. The results obtained support the continued consideration of a variety of CFC composites for TPX PFC components.