Development of beryllium bonds for plasma-facing components

This study concerns the techniques of bonding beryllium to both structural material (AISI 316 SS) and heat sink material (copper and DS-copper) plates, and the characterization of the bonding material obtained. Conventional bonding techniques for joining Be to SS and copper using brazing alloys were first investigated, The best, result was obtained using a silver-copper eutectic alloy as a brazing alloy. However, the high-temperature capability of the materials prepared by this method is limited by the performance of brazing alloys at the operating temperature. To avoid this problem, we are developing a joining process known as solid-state reaction bonding that improves the capability at the operating temperature.