Effect of stationary high heat flux and transient ELMs-like heat loads on the divertor PFCs

The experimental evaluation of the divertor plasma facing components (PFCs) lifetime under transient events, such as edge localized modes (ELMs) and high heat flux (HHF) thermal fatigue expected during ITER normal operations and slow transient events is here presented. The experiments have been performed in the frame of an EU/RF collaboration. For carbon fiber composite material the erosion is caused by PAN fiber damage whilst the erosion of tungsten is determined by the melt layer movement and crack formation. The conclusion of this study is that, in addition to the structural change produced in the armor materials by ELMs-like loads, some mock ups showed also a degradation of the thermal fatigue performances