We investigate SiC fibre reinforced copper as an additional layer at the highly loaded zone between plasma facing material (W) and heat sink (CuCrZr) for a fusion reactor divertor.Copper has a high thermal conductivity of 380 Wm -1 K -1 but a very low strength and creep resistance at 550°C. Therefore copper is reinforced with SiC long fibres (SCS6, Specialty Materials) having excellent high temperature strength.The fibres were galvanically coated with an 80-µm-thick copper layer as matrix. Hot isostatic pressing at 650°C was applied to form the composite material. The interfacial shear strength calculated from push-out tests was ̴ 6 MPa.Adding a 100-nm-thin titanium interlayer deposited by magnetron sputtering led to a higher adhesion of the SiC fibres in the copper matrix. Titanium reacted with the carbon surface of the fibre to TiC and formed with copper the alloy Cu 4 Ti during heat treatment and increased the interfacial shear strength to 70 MPa.
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