Heat testing of a prototypical SiC-foam-based flow channel insert

As part of the U.S. ITER test blanket module development effort, several flow channel insert (FCI) concepts using a variety of porous SiC and SiC/SiC composites are being developed. Using porous SiC, prototypes of FCI segments as large as 0.12 m × 0.75 m × 0.015 m were fabricated and heat tested with a maximum Δ T of ∼150°C across the FCI walls. In this paper, we report on two heat tests of the FCI prototypes. The first test used radiative heating of the inside of the FCI along with convective cooling of the outside of the FCI, which resulted in a temperature drop of about ∼147°C across the FCI wall. The second test involved partial submersion of the FCI structure in liquid PbLi, resulting in an inner wall surface temperature of about 600 °C and an outer wall temperature of about 450 °C (Δ T ∼ 150 °C). Detailed thermomechanical analyses of the tests were conducted, and results of the simulations are discussed in the context of actual FCI operating conditions.