Analytical expressions for thermophysical properties of solid and liquid aluminum relevant for fusion applications

Aluminum is being actively employed by the fusion community as a non-toxic chemical proxy to beryllium, since both materials form covalent hydrides, high-melting oxides as well as alloys with tungsten [1]. Characteristic examples include studies of in situ cleaning of diagnostic first mirrors [2,3], investigations of hydrogen retention or deposited layer formation [4,5] and experiments dedicated to sputtered material transport in diagnostic ducts [6]. Aluminum has also served as a surrogate for beryllium in high heat flux tests, given its low melting point and low mass density. Characteristic examples concern experiments on the interaction of adhered Al dust with transient and stationary plasmas carried out in Magnum-PSI [7] and the controlled melting of Al blocks exposed in the DIII-D divertor under steady L-mode discharge conditions using the DiMES manipulator [8]. In order to reliably model the macroscopic metallic melt motion realized in the sloped geometry Al L-mode exposures in the DIII-D divertor, the material library of the MEMENTO melt dynamics code, that previously concerned tungsten [9], beryllium [10], niobium [11,12] and iridium [11,12], has to be extended to aluminum. Reliable experimental data have been analyzed for the specific isobaric heat capacity, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, mass density, vapor pressure, latent heat of fusion, enthalpy of vaporization, work function, total hemispherical emissivity and absolute thermoelectric power from the room temperature up to the normal boiling point of aluminum as well as for the surface tension and the dynamic viscosity across the liquid state. Analytical expressions are recommended for the temperature dependence of these thermophysical properties, which involve high temperature extrapolations given the absence of extended liquid aluminum measurements. The analytical expressions, the details of their construction and the main references are included in the accompanying pdf. [1] L. Marot, C. Linsmeier, B. Eren, L. Moser, R. Steiner and E. Meyer, "Can aluminium or magnesium be a surrogate for beryllium: A critical investigation of their chemistry", Fus. Eng. Des. 88 (2013) 1718. [2] A. Maffini, L. Moser, L. Marot, R. Steiner, D. Dellasega, A. Uccello, E. Meyer and M. Passoni, "In situ cleaning of diagnostic first mirrors: an experimental comparison between plasma and laser cleaning in ITER-relevant conditions", Nucl. Fusion 57 (2017) 046014. [3] A. Litnovsky, V. S. Voitsenya, R. Reichle et al., "Diagnostic mirrors for ITER: research in the frame of International Tokamak Physics Activity", Nucl. Fusion 59 (2019) 066029. [4] A. Kreter, T. Dittmar, D. Nishijima, R. P. Doerner, M. J. Baldwin and K. Schmid, "Erosion, formation of deposited layers and fuel retention for beryllium under the influence of plasma impurities" Phys. Scr. T159 (2014) 014039. [5] C. Quirós, J. Mougenot, G. Lombardi, M. Redolfi, O. Brinza, Y. Charles, A. Michau and K. Hassouni, "Blister formation and hydrogen retention in aluminium and beryllium: A modeling and experimental approach", Nucl. Mater. Energy 12 (2017) 1178. [6] N. A. Babinov, A. G. Razdobarin, I. M. Bukreev et al, "Three-dimensional modeling of sputtered materials transport in diagnostic ducts of fusion devices", Nucl. Fusion 62 (2022) 126004. [7] S. Ratynskaia, P. Tolias, M. De Angeli, D. Ripamonti, G. Riva, D. Aussems and T. W. Morgan, "Interaction of adhered beryllium proxy dust with transient and stationary plasmas", Nucl. Mater. Energy 17 (2018) 222. [8] D. L. Rudakov, T. Abrams, I. Bykov et al., "Controlled low-Z metal melting in the DIII-D divertor", Abstract submitted for the 19th International Conference on Plasma-Facing Materials and Components for Fusion Applications, 22-26 May 2023, Bonn, Germany. [9] P. Tolias, "Analytical expressions for thermophysical properties of solid and liquid tungsten relevant for fusion applications", Nucl. Mater. Energy 13 (2017) 42. [10] P. Tolias, "Analytical expressions for thermophysical properties of solid and liquid beryllium relevant for fusion applications", Nucl. Mater. Energy 31 (2022) 101195. [11] P. Tolias, S. Ratynskaia and K. Paschalidis, "Thermophysical properties for the published article - Experiments and modelling on ASDEX Upgrade and WEST in support of tool development for tokamak reactor armour melting assessments", Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6778824Opens in a new tab. [12] S. Ratynskaia, K. Paschalidis, P. Tolias et al., "Experiments and modelling on ASDEX Upgrade and WEST in support of tool development for tokamak reactor armour melting assessments", Nucl. Mater. Energy 33 (2022) 101303. PT, SR acknowledge the financial support of the Swedish Research Council under Grant No 2021-05649. The work has also been performed within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, funded by the European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme (Grant Agreement No 101052200 - EUROfusion). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.