Strength of copper alloys in high temperature environment

The first wall of ITER is expected to be hot isostatic pressing (HIP) bonded structure of copper-alloy/SS316. Firstly, fracture toughness and crack propagation tests were performed on DS-Cu and DS-Cu/SS316 HIP joints at ambient temperature and 573 K T. Yamada, M. Uno, M. Saito, Fall Meeting of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, vol. I, 1998, p. 187 (in Japanese). JIC values of DS-Cu and DS-Cu/SS316 decreased significantly at 573 K. In crack propagation test, DS-Cu lost its ductility at 573 K. Secondly, we performed fracture toughness tests on CuCrZr and CuCrZr/CuCrZr, CuCrZr/SS316 HIP joints at ambient and 573 K. CuCrZr base metal had higher JIC values than DS-Cu. Concerning CuCrZr/CuCrZr and CuCrZr/SS316 HIP joint, its JIC value decreased to less than that of CuCrZr base metal.