HIP experiments on the first wall and cooling plate specimens for the EU HCPB blanket

Abstract First wall and cooling plates are considered the most important structural parts of the EU HCPB blanket concept which is based on the use of ferritic–martensitic steel as structural material, Li 4 SiO 4 pebbles as breeder material, beryllium pebbles as neutron multiplier, and 8 MPa helium as coolant. Both the first wall and cooling plates contain complex arrays of internal He coolant channels. The favourite manufacturing technology is diffusion welding of two halves of plates applying the hot isostatic pressure (HIP) welding method that allows uniform distribution of the pressure acting on the outer surfaces of the welding objects. The HIP experiment was started with small MANET specimens with internal coolant channels. The objective of this work is to investigate the appropriate HIP technique, boundary conditions, and parameters in order to achieve good mechanical properties of the welding joints as well as to achieve a transition to test specimens of larger dimensions.