Preliminary Design of a Hot Hydrogen Test Loop for Plasma-Material–Interaction Evaluation

One of the most pressing issues in the commercial development of fusion energy is the design and testing of high-temperature materials that can withstand high heat and particle fluxes while maintaining desirable structural and material performance. This challenge is also present in advanced fission reactor and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system development, and experimental data generated from common material candidates provide novel cross-disciplinary validation and verification of model development. To this end, a hot hydrogen test loop capable of producing circulating hydrogen at temperatures up to 1200°C is being designed and constructed at The Pennsylvania State University, with the immediate intent to study the effects of hydrogen exposure on NTP component materials. These materials can include metals, ceramics, and any materials combination of interest. This work details the preliminary design work behind the current loop design, demonstrating effective operation at the current temperature requirement, and will inform higher-temperature designs where plasma effects become more significant.