Performance of a copper-lithium alloy as an impurity control system surface material for a fusion reactor

A copper-lithium alloy was evaluated as a surface material for the impurity control system of the INTOR reactor. Both the medium edge temperature limiter regime and the low edge temperature divertor regime were examined. The analysis used TRIM code data to predict sputtering coefficients for copper-lithium with a 1.5 monolayer coverage of lithium. The REDEP code was used to evaluate the erosion performance for INTOR. Other properties such as fabrication and thermal performance were also briefly assessed. It was found, from the standpoint of erosion, that copper-lithium is a very good candidate material for the medium edge temperature regime, and also works well in the low edge temperature regime. For the medium edge temperature regime, the use of copper-lithium results in an almost negligible erosion rate over the entire limiter surface.