Overview of EU CFCs development for plasma facing materials

To improve the properties of carbon materials, the tritium inventory should be reduced, chemical erosion and RES have to be suppressed to increase the resistance to water/oxygen at elevated temperatures. In addition, in the next generation devices, i.e., the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), plasma disruption, slow transients, and ELMs, which can occur as off-normal events as the result of a transition from detached divertor operation to attached operation causes extremely high heat loading to carbon protection material. Therefore, Carbon fiber composites (CFCs) with high thermal conductivity (300 W m(-1) K(-1) at 20 degrees C, 145 W m(-1) K(-1) at 800 degrees C) are favourable. In framework of European Fusion Technology program, a great effort has been made to develop CFCs to meet all requirements. This paper presents an overview in progress of EU CFCs development. The characteristics of CFCs with respect to thermal-mechanical properties, erosion by plasma, tritium retention, H(2)O/O(2) reactions, and neutron irradiation effects were reported. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.