Status of the beryllium tile bonding qualification activities for the manufacturing of the ITER first wall

The preparation of the manufacturing of the ITER first wall involves a qualification stage. The qualification aims at demonstrating that manufacturers can deliver the needed reliability and quality for the beryllium to copper bond, before the manufacturing can commence. The qualification is done on semi-prototype, containing relevant features relative to the beryllium armour (about 1/6 of the panel size). The qualification is done by the participating parties, firstly by a manufacturing semi-prototype and then by testing it under heat flux. One semi-prototype is manufactured and is being tested, and further from other manufacturers are still to come. The qualification programme is accompanied by bond defect investigations, which aim at defining defect acceptance criteria. Qualification and defect acceptance programme are supported by thermal and stress analyses, with good agreement regarding the thermal results, and some insights about the governing factors to bond damage.