Development of integrated insulation joint for cooling pipe in tokamak reactor

In a tokamak fusion reactor, an electrically insulated part is needed for an in-vessel piping system in order to break an electric circuit loop. When a closed loop is formed in the piping system, large induced electromagnetic forces during a plasma disruption (rapid plasma current quench) could give damages on the piping system. Ceramic brazing joint is a conventional method for the electric circuit break, but an application to the fusion reactor is not feasible due to its brittleness. Here, a stainless steel/ceramics/stainless steel functionally gradient material (FGM) has been proposed and developed as an integrated insulation joint of the piping system. Both sides of the joint can be welded to the main pipes, and expected to be reliable even in the fusion reactor environment. When the FGM joint is manufactured by way of a sintering process, a residual thermal stress is the key issue. Through detailed computations of the residual thermal stress and several trial productions, tubular elements of FGM joints have been successfully manufactured. (author)