Plasma spraying is under investigation as a method for in-situ repair of damaged beryllium and tungsten plasma facing surfaces for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the next generation magnetic fusion energy device, and is also being considered as a potential fabrication method for beryllium and tungsten plasma-facing components for the first wall of ITER. Investigators at the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Beryllium Atomization and Thermal Spray Facility have concentrated on investigating the structure property relationship between the as-deposited microstructures of plasma sprayed beryllium coatings and the resulting thermal properties of the coatings. In this study, the effect of the initial substrate temperature on the resulting thermal diffusivity of the beryllium coatings and the thermal diffusivity at the coating/beryllium substrate interface (i.e. interface thermal resistance) was investigated. Results have shown that initial beryllium substrate temperatures greater than 600°C can improve the thermal diffusivity of the beryllium coatings and minimize any thermal resistance at the interface between the beryllium coating and beryllium substrate.

The development of beryllium first wall components for future magnetic confinement fusion experiments such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a topic of great importance as the ITER construction phase is about to begin. The beryllium components must be able to survive the harsh plasma environment for extended periods of time during operation. Furthermore, cost and detrimental health effects must be kept to a minimum during the fabrication and operation processes. The work described here details the requirements for ITER first wall components and describes experiments to produce beryllium high heat flux components by plasma spray deposition. Experimental parameters and characterization results from the components are presented. Results of initial high heat flux testing under electron beam irradiation show performance exceeding that required for ITER first wall components.

Presently one of the most important tendencies is the use of tungsten (W) monoblock material for the first wall and other plasma facing components (PFCs) in tokamak. The use of low Z materials such as B 4 C for protection of PFCs is a conventional method to decrease heavy impurity influx into tokamak plasma. This study involves the fabrication and characterization of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) thermal sprayed B 4 C coating on tungsten monoblock. Thickness of the coating was about 120μm. Surface morphology of the coating is presented with scanning electron microscope and metallographic microscope analyses. X-ray diffraction analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the main phase and chemical composition of the coatings were preserved when compared with that of the initial B 4 C powder. Adhesion test result revealed that the adhesion/cohesion strength of the coating was above 13.1 MPa. This work is innovative not only for the ICP thermal sprayed method for the B 4 C coating fabrication but for the plasma sprayed B 4 C on tungsten substrate.

Plasma Facing Materials (PFMs) suffer from very high heat load including quasi-stationary high heat load during normal operation and transient events with extremely high heat load during normal plasma operation and off-normal events. In this paper, W/Cu functional gradient coating was applied on CuCrZr substrate (250mm × 120mm × 30mm) with compositionally gradient W/Cu as bond coat (0.4-0.6 mm) and 1.5 mm thickness W coating as top coat via VPS for continuous deposition duration of 5 h. VPS-W/CuCrZr mokeup with built-in cooling channel was prepared for evaluating the transient vertical displacement and plasma disruption events applied by high energy electron beam. The formation of cracks and surface melting of VPS W/Cu mokeup were investigated under the two transient high heat loads (HHL). The coatings were able to absorb about 2 MJ/m2 in HHL without significant damage.

There is a continued need within the aerospace and space communities to increase the structural efficiency of launch vehicles in order to increase the payload and/or lower fuel usage. Many of these structures have critical stiffness demands because of deflection, buckling, or acoustic/vibration damping. Aluminum-beryllium (Al-Be) is a candidate material for many such structural components because it has a very high stiffness to weight ratio (second only to pure beryllium) and has superior formability and weldability as compared to beryllium. The strength to weight ratio of commercial Al-Be is superior to aluminum alloys (7050 and 6061-T6) that are currently used for aerospace and space applications. Plasma spray forming of Al-Be alloys is being investigated at Los Alamos National Laboratory for producing axial symmetric components for aerospace and space applications. Plasma spray forming of beryllium and beryllium alloys was investigated during the 1960's and 70's by Union Carbide Speedway Laboratories and the Atomic Weapons Establishment for producing axial symmetric launch vehicle components for defense related applications. Information is presented on the thermal and mechanical properties of plasma sprayed AlBeMet which is a commercial Al-Be alloy produced by Brush Wellman Inc.

Laser assisted direct metal deposition (or simply DMD) belongs to the family of laser cladding. This is flexible and efficient method for elaboration of diverse coatings including functionally graded, multi-layered, etc. The coatings are characterized by excellent adhesion (metallurgical contact), low porosity and variable thickness up to several millimeters and even centimeters. Actually DMD technology is under intensive development. The most important objective is to increase product quality, process stability and reproducibility along with the simultaneous decrease of risks, failures and defects both on processes and on end-products. The use of the TRUMPF 505 DMD machine with 5 kW CO 2 laser allowed to scale-up the technology to an industrial level. The targeted applications are related to petrol, chemical and plastics industries where wear resistance is improved by deposition of a hard-phase coating; in aeronautics DMD is used for near net shape manufacturing from Inconel alloys.

Thermonuclear fusion is a promising source of clean energy for the future. Max-Planck-Institute für Plasmaphysik (IPP, Greifswald, Germany) is currently working on the new type of fusion reactor, the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. The extreme operating conditions of fusion reactor devices have lead to an increasing interest in the field of high performance materials. The present work describes the development of coating systems acting as efficient absorbers for 140 GHz radiation, which is the microwave frequency to which the analyzed components of Wendelstein 7-X are subjected. Several types of oxide ceramic coatings were applied by Atmospheric Plasma Spraying. Different powders were used as feedstock material for the coating operation. The influence of the process parameters on the coating properties and microwave absorbing capability was analyzed. The coatings microstructure and mechanical properties were characterized in terms of porosity, microhardness, roughness, adhesion and residual stresses. XRD and SEM were carried out. It was found that thickness and microstructure of the coatings have a significant influence on microwave absorption behavior. For Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 coatings, absorption values over 90% were obtained. After optimization of the coating structure, the coating process was adapted to several real reactor components that will work in Wendelstein 7-X.

In nuclear fusion reactors, the first wall is the name given to the surface which is in direct contact with the plasma. A part of it is the divertor which is a device that removes fusion products from the plasma and impurities that have entered into it from the vessel lining. It is covered with water cooled tiles which have to withstand high temperatures and high heat fluxes. Moreover, resistance to neutron bombardment, low tritium absorption and low hydrogen permeation are additional demands. One materials concept under research is the application of a Reduced Activation Ferritic Martensitic Steel (RAFM) as a structural material with a tungsten protective coating. Since there is a considerable thermal mismatch between, a functional graded materials (FGM) concept was proposed. As the formation of undesired intermetallic Fe-W phases as well as oxidation should be avoided, cold gas spraying was chosen as manufacturing process. Two powder blends of EUROFER97 RAFM steel and a fine tungsten powder cut on the one hand and a coarser one on the other hand were tested in different ratios. The coatings were characterized with respect to their porosity and surface structure. Furthermore, the deposition efficiencies for steel and tungsten were determined each. It turned out, that the deposition process is a complex mixed situation of bonding and erosion mechanisms as the deposition windows of these very different materials obviously diverge. Thus, a lower working gas temperature and pressure was advantageous in some cases. Unexpectedly, the coarser tungsten powder in general enabled to achieve better results.

An investigation was conducted to assess the potential of water-stabilized plasma (WSP) spraying for applying protective boron carbide coatings to fusion reactor components. This paper describes how test samples were produced and how coating quality was determined. The authors sprayed boron carbide powder onto steel and stainless steel substrates using different powder feeding and spraying distances, substrate preheat temperatures, and carrier gases. They also investigated methods for optimizing the plasma jet and improving coating adhesion. The boron carbide coatings were characterized based on phase composition, porosity, oxygen content, and flexural strength. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

The paper presents an integrated study of the effects of RF plasma spray process parameters on the particle melting, particle spheroidisation and acceleration in the plasma, particle-substrate interactions and final deposit properties. Particle temperatures and velocities have been studied, by both experimental and numerical simulation methods, as functions of spray particle diameters. In-flight spheroidisation behavior was also observed by means of a particle capturing technique while splat formation was studied on polished stainless steel substrates. Optimized process parameters were then estimated and used to produce deposits on stationary substrates. Deposit properties, such as splat shape and crystal grain morphologies, apparent densities and deposition efficiencies were observed and processing parameters further optimized. The results obtained indicate that the advantages of the RF inductively coupled plasma spray technique, such as the longer particle residence time in the plasma and “cleanliness” of the process can be efficiently utilized to deposit dense tungsten metal parts or coatings.

The goal of this study is to find applicable spray conditions for producing tungsten (W), zirconium carbide (ZrC), and W-ZrC cermet layers. In the experiments, W and ZrC powder mixtures were fed into the plasma of a water-stabilized plasma gun and coatings approximately 1 mm thick were sprayed on graphite substrates. Pure W and pure ZrC were deposited under similar conditions. Microhardness, surface roughness, XRD, XRF, dilatometry, and spectroscopic techniques were used to characterize the coatings. The resulting coatings were found to be hard with a high elastic modulus.