Elsevier

Fusion Engineering and Design

Volumes 51–52, November 2000, Pages 789-795
Fusion Engineering and Design

A new Multiple Beams–Material Interaction Research Facility for radiation damage studies in fusion materials

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0920-3796(00)00181-2Get rights and content

Abstract

As an important part of fusion materials research, evaluation of radiation damage in fusion materials has been emphasized more than two decades. Under the current situation with no 14 MeV neutron irradiation facility available for materials research, Multiple Beams–Materials Interaction Research Facility has to have a very important role in many years to come. In order to obtain clear understandings of radiation damage in fusion materials, as the dynamic material behavior under severe environments in advanced energy systems, such as fusion reactors, fission reactors, a Multiple Beams–Material Interaction Research Facility (DuET facility) has been constructed at the Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, in these three years. And is at the first stage of accelerator operation and adjusting. The facility consists of a 1.7 MV tandem accelerator system with a pair of ion sources (a cesium sputter type heavy ion source and a duo-plasmatron type light ion source), a 1.0 MV single-end accelerator system with a light ion source and three target stations. Some of the preliminary results utilizing HIT Facility, the University of Tokyo, is also provided with the future plan.

Introduction

The development of advanced materials is a key to the achievement of nuclear fusion as a safe, environmentally attractive and economically competitive energy source. The fusion environment consists of high temperature for improved energy conversion efficiency (high plan efficiency), high energy and high flux neutron loading, electromagnetic field, high temperature plasma, coolant, breeder, neutron multiplier, etc. Where, fusion neutron damage is the biggest technical challenge in fusion materials R&D, because it has been demonstrated to results in unacceptable ductility loss, dimensional instability, radiation induced radioactivity and thermal conductivity degradation in certain existing engineering materials [1], [2], [3], [4].

Recent efforts on fusion materials R&D have been making remarkable progresses and an adequate 14 MeV neutron irradiation facility has been strongly required for the further progress in the most efficient and reliable way. However, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) project is still on the way to the final engineering design and fission neutron and charged particle irradiation facilities are the only tools available at present [2], [3], [4], [5]. Under this situation we have put our strongest effort to construct a Multiple Beams–Material Interaction Research Facility (DuET facility) at the Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University [6]. The facility set-up planned and under construction is as shown in Fig. 1. The objectives of planned initial works using the facility are to reveal the physical processes of radiation damage and other environmental effects, and their consequences in physical and mechanical properties of materials. This paper provides brief ideas of the technical aspects of the accelerator facility and the planned research activities.

Section snippets

Highly controlled dual-ion irradiation as a new tool for fusion materials research

Because no operating fusion reactors or intense fusion spectrum neutron sources available at present, fusion materials research relies upon simulation of fusion environments. Bombardment with charged particles, particularly dual beams composed of helium and heavy ions, has been a useful tool to study microstructural evolution induced by displacement damage and transmutant gases [7], [8], [9]. More than a decade HIT-facility of the University of Tokyo, which was designed and constructed by the

DuET Facility at IAE, Kyoto University [6]

DuET facility, which stands for dual-beam for energy technology, is a Multiple Beams–Material Interaction Research Facility constructed at the Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University. The facility consists of a Model 4117HC tandem accelerator, a Singletron single-end accelerator, both manufactured by High Voltage Engineering Europe, B.V. (HVEE), and three target chambers. The tandem accelerator has an HVEE Model 860A cesium sputter-type heavy ion source and a model 358 duoplasmatron-type

Target stations and applications to fusion materials research

TS-1, DuMIS is for irradiation and implantation studies of materials. Its dual-beam capability is primarily for the studies on synergistic effects of atomic-displacement damage and gaseous transmutant production in materials under neutron exposure [7], [9], [10]. Of particular, helium is assumed to be the primary source of the prominent synergistic effects, because of its very low solubility in solids and strong interaction with lattice vacancies [11]. Typical examples of helium effect on

Conclusion

A brief introduction of a new multiple beams – material Interaction research facility, DuET, at Kyoto University was provided together with the specific features of the facility as a new tool for fusion materials research and materials research in general. The ideas of potential applications of the facility to studies on beam-material interaction and advanced energy material development were provided, along with the technical description of material irradiation/analysis target stations.

Acknowledgements

This project is supported by Monbusho (Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture) and Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology/Advanced Material Systems for Energy Conversion (CREST-ACE) program sponsored by Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST) [19].

References (19)

  • A. Kohyama et al.

    Fusion Eng. Des.

    (1998)
  • R.H. Jones et al.

    Fusion Eng. Des.

    (1998)
  • D.L. Smith et al.

    Fusion Eng. Des.

    (1998)
  • K. Abe et al.

    J. Nucl. Mater.

    (1998)
  • Y. Kohno et al.

    J. Nucl. Mater.

    (1986)
  • L.K. Mansur et al.

    J. Nucl. Mater.

    (1983)
  • Y. Katoh et al.

    J. Nucl. Mater.

    (1993)
  • Y. Katoh et al.

    Dual-ion irradiation effects on microstructure of austenitic alloys

    J. Nucl. Mater.

    (1993)
  • J.O. Stiegler (Ed.), Proceedings of the Workshop on Correlation of Neutron and Charged Particle Damage, CONF-76-673,...
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (100)

  • Establishment of multi-beam irradiation facility at Wuhan University

    2022, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
  • Insights into hardening, plastically deformed zone and geometrically necessary dislocations of two ion-irradiated FeCrAl(Zr)-ODS ferritic steels: A combined experimental and simulation study

    2022, Acta Materialia
    Citation Excerpt :

    Finally, electrolytic polishing was conducted in the solution of 10% (vol.) HClO4 and 90% (vol.) CH3COOH at room temperature to remove any residual mechanical damage. For each damage level, specimens of (Y, Al) ODS and (Y, Zr) ODS were irradiated simultaneously with 6.4 MeV Fe3+ ions by using the DuET facility at Kyoto University [35]. The beam was raster scanned at a frequency of 1000 Hz in a horizontal direction and 300 Hz in a vertical direction under a vacuum of ∼10−6 Pa.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text