MPEX Insulating and Heating Blankets

The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX), a superconducting magnet, steady-state device, is being built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to address the harsh conditions inside a fusion reactor. This device, as designed, will have the unique feature of being able to conduct accelerated lifetime tests of plasma-facing components, including those that have experienced neutron damage. The vacuum vessels create the vacuum barrier to generate and contain the plasma. The vacuum vessels require to be baked out. To bake out the vacuum vessels, insulating and heating blankets are required.