The experiment progress of bracket brazing to SSMIC for the ITER ELM prototype coil

The first Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) prototype coil for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has been manufactured in the Institute of Plasma Physics, CAS (ASIPP) at 2014. The all 19 brackets need to braze to the stainless steel jacketed, Mineral Insulated Conductor (SSMIC) for transporting the nuclear heating in the brackets to the water-cooled SSMIC. Silver-based alloy is the only candidate brazing filler for the bracket brazing due to the limitation from melting point temperature and strength. In this paper, firstly, the experimental study for controlling the fluidity of silver-based brazing alloy is developed. And then, the brazing experiment of prototype bracket is introduced to develop the brazing process and some cracks in the Inconel 625 jackets surface appeared unexpectedly. The microstructures and tensile performance study of the cracked Inconel 625 jacket were made to explore the reason for cracks and the improved brazing technologies to suppress the cracks are developed. Finally, the bracket brazing experiment for the first ELM prototype coil is carried out, In spite of this, some cracks also appear in the Inconel 625 jackets.