[1O13-17] Fusion Materials (Characteristics)

[1O16] Investigation of microstructural effects on the thermal conductivity of NITE-SiC/SiC composites

An experimental study on the effect of microstructure(Density(porosity), Fiber volume fraction, Fiber alignment direction) on the thermal conductivity of NITE-SiC_f/SiC composites for material design as a heat resistantmaterial for fusion reactor.

*Byung-Min Kim¹ (1. Muroran Institute of Technology)

Keywords:SiC/SiC Composites, The factors of microstructure, Thermal conductivity

SiC fiber reinforced SiC matrix composites (SiC_f/SiC) is a candidate material for the structures of blanket and divertor systems in fusion reactor because of its high strength at elevated temperature, excellent neutron irradiation resistance, low decay heat and so on. During the operation of the fusion reactor, the materials are exposed to severe thermal flux of 10 MW/m² or more and heavy neutron bombardment. Moreover, the material are cooled by cooling system, therefore, thermal stress caused by the severe thermal gradients are possible to damage the materials. Thus, design of the composites to control and enhance the thermal conductivity is an important issue.
NITE-SiC_f/SiC composites have the anisotropy in thermo-mechanical properties due to the fiber reinforcing architectures. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors of microstructure (fiber, F/M interface and matrix) on the thermal conductivity of NITE SiC_f/SiC composites aiming to establish design guidelines for application in fusion reactor.