Abstract
High strength high conductivity copper alloys will be used for heat sink materials of a high heat flux component of a fusion reactor. High energy neutron irradiation on these materials will cause atomic displacements and nuclear transmutation, which will lead to degradation of thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the materials. These effects will be briefly reviewed with special emphasis on synergistic effects of displacements and transmutation. It should be kept in mind that even pure copper will be transformed into Cu-Ni-Zn alloy by fusion neutron irradiations. This effect on the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties cannot be ignored for long term use of copper alloys in neutron irradiation environment.
We have been utilizing Cu-Ni-Zn alloys to simulate the effect of nuclear transmutation. Displacement damage with fusion neutrons has been simulated by ion irradiation with 2.4MeV copper self ions. Results of these experiments will be summarized.
