Overview of R&D on Plasma-Facing Materials and Components in China

A project to realize, in several years, a W/Cu divertor on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) with ITER-like plasma-facing component (PFC) configuration was launched at Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in 2010. The ITER-like configuration should withstand the rapid increase in particle and power impact onto the divertor and demonstrate the feasibility of the ITER design under practical long-pulse tokamak plasmas. The project could help not only EAST experiments, but also realize ITER PFC technology validation and bring answers in a timely manner for the ITER full-W divertor for the nuclear phase. Southwest Institute of Physics (SWIP) will have 10% of the first wall (FW) procurement package of the enhanced heat flux (EHF) type. The materials have been developed and characterized according to the ITER-grade material specifications, including vacuum hot pressing (VHP)-Be, CuCrZr alloy, and 316L(N)-IG forged blocks, and qualification testing of the VHP-Be tiles joining to the CuCrZr heat sink by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) has been carried out. Some Chinese universities have started to explore new grades of W materials, e.g., carbide or oxide dispersion strengthened fine grain W materials, and investigated their behavior under high heat loads.