The effects of HIP thermal cycles and neutron irradiation on metallurgy and fracture toughness of Cu/SS joints

The present design of the ITER Plasma Facing Components consists of a copper alloy heat sink layer between plasma facing materials and stainless steel structure. The main option for manufacturing these components is Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) method and several HIP thermal cycles is needed for manufacturing e.g. the complete blanket module. All the joints must withstand the thermal, mechanical and neutron loads. However, only a limited amount of experimental results exist on the effects of successive HIP thermal cycles on the properties of the base materials and the joints. In this study the effect of multiple HIP cycles on metallurgy and fracture toughness of HIP joints between CuA125 IG0 and CuCrZr alloys and 316LN stainless steel have been investigated in unirradiated and neutron irradiated conditions. (author)