Thermal-elasto-plastic analysis of W-CU functionally graded materials subjected to a uniform heat flow by micromechanical model

Thermonuclear fusion process implementation has many material problems and one of them is related to the removal of impurities from plasma. In the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a divertor concept has been incorporated for this purpose. In this work, the development of a micromechanical model for functionally graded materials (FGMs) is presented and its application to thermal-elasto-plastic analysis is discussed for the case of the W-Cu FGMs for the ITER divertor plates The model allows the prediction of basic properties of the FGM and computations of thermal stresses; and, in some limits, it may be used for pre-design evaluation of strain/stress distributions and inelastic behavior. The model is found to be very useful at the first stages of graded materials design.