AbstractIt is regarded that the life time of a graphite divertor wall is determined by erosion during the disruptions. In the disruption heat load experiments, the erosion of graphite due to particle emissions has been observed to be extremely serious. The particle emission process is considered based on localized thermal stress at the surface. There is a critical heat flux for the particle emission to take place. Erosion depth observed in the experiment is also discussed using the present simple model.