Structural analysis of a plasma facing component reinforced with fibrous metal matrix composite laminate

Fiber-reinforced metal matrix composites (FMMC) show improved mechanical performance compared to conventional alloys. Hence, integration of FMMC in plasma facing components (PFC) is expected to improve the structural reliability of the component. A possible design concept for a FMMC-integrated PFC would be such that a cross-ply laminate interlayer consisting of unidirectional FMMC laminae is locally inserted into the highly stressed domain, e.g. bond interface region. To assess the design feasibility of a FMMC-integrated PFC, dual scale stress computation was conducted on a PFC system consisting of tungsten armor/copper-base FMMC laminate interlayer/copper alloy heat sink. Focus was placed on the evolution of stress state, plastic deformation and local damage both on macro- and microscales under heat flux cycling. For this, an incremental micromechanics algorithm was implemented into a finite element code. Results showed that damage in the FMMC would not be critical under fusion-relevant loading condition.