Mon, 06 November, 2023
A team from TWI (Dr Raja Khan and Dr Alessandro Sergi) is currently working on a UKAEA funded project along with Frazer-Nash Consultancy to support the development of pure tungsten (W) and tungsten carbide (WC) shielding components.
To this end, TWI is responsible for the manufacturing of representative demonstrators for STEP reactor by joining W and WC blocks with steel cooling channel.
Due to the complex materials and geometries involved, TWI has considered hot isostatic pressing diffusion bonding (HIP DB) as a viable route to join the demonstrator segments.
Intensive experimental activities, including HIP DB trials, were performed in order to down-select the correct interlayers for the material to be joined and the joining process parameters.
The project work then shifted its attention towards HIP canisters design and fabrication in order to manufacture large demonstrator parts.
More information will be shared soon related to the manufacturing of demonstrators.
In the meantime, if you would like to explore more about this project or your requirement related to advanced joining through HIP DB, then please email: tpt@twi.co.uk
