Pulsed thermography of CFC monoblock divertor components

In the frame of the Wendelstein 7-X project, the ARGUS facility of PLANSEE for pulsed thermography testing (PTT) has been developed as an inspection method for divertor components containing a CFC flat tile armor. The benefit is that inspection without a cooling system and without a reference element can be performed. ability of PTT for monoblock components inspection was investigated on the PLANSEE qualification vertical target prototypes (QVTP) for ITER. The influence of different defects on PTT was analyzed by finite element modeling (FEM). With these results an acceptance criterion for PTT was defined. The size of natural defects detected by PTT was determined by X-ray computed tomography (CT). The defect resolution required by ITER specifications is fulfilled by PTT. The repeatability of the testing procedure is sufficiently high to perform inspections without a reference element. Because of these features thermographic inspection in a commercial manufacturing line becomes feasible.