Copper Alloys in Fusion
High-conductivity alloys that carry heat away behind the armour.
- Use
- Heat sinks
- Alloy
- CuCrZr
Copper alloys such as CuCrZr combine excellent thermal conductivity with enough strength to serve as actively-cooled heat sinks beneath plasma-facing armour. They are standard in divertor and first-wall heat-removal structures.
On the burner side, copper's reflectivity is also relevant to the liner, traded against activation.
Common questions
Precipitation-strengthened copper alloys combine high thermal conductivity with useful strength, so they pull heat out of the plasma-facing armour fast enough to survive the flux. They are the heat-sink material beneath the tungsten.
Neutron irradiation degrades copper's conductivity and toughness, which is why the copper-alloy heat sinks sit in the replaceable first-wall and divertor components rather than in permanent structure.