About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2023 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
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Symposium
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Transmutation Effects in Fusion Reactor Materials: Critical Challenges & Path Forward
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Presentation Title |
Ab Initio Study of Tungsten-based Alloys Under Fusion Power-plant Conditions |
Author(s) |
Yichen Qian, Mark R. Gilbert, Lucile Dezerald, Duc Nguyen-Manh, David Cereceda |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Mark R. Gilbert |
Abstract Scope |
Tungsten is considered a leading candidate for plasma-facing materials (PFMs) in future fusion energy devices. The most attractive properties of tungsten for magnetic and inertial fusion energy reactors are its high melting point, high thermal conductivity, low sputtering yield, and low long-term disposal radioactive footprint. However, tungsten also presents a very low fracture toughness, limiting applications. Given their proximity to the plasma, it is crucial to understand how the exposure of candidate tungsten-based PFMs to the neutron fluxes expected in fusion reactors impacts their material behavior over time.In this work, we present a computational approach that combines inventory codes and first-principles DFT electronic structure calculations to understand the behavior of transmuting tungsten-based PFMs. In particular, we calculate the changes in the chemical composition, the elastic and plastic properties, and the density of states for five tungsten-based PFMs when exposed to EU-DEMO fusion conditions for ten years. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Modeling and Simulation, Computational Materials Science & Engineering |