Materials Systems for the Future of Fusion Energy: Advanced Materials and Interfaces
Sponsored by: TMS Structural Materials Division, TMS: Nuclear Materials Committee, TMS: Additive Manufacturing Committee, TMS: Computational Materials Science and Engineering Committee, TMS: Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee
Program Organizers: Jason Trelewicz, Stony Brook University; Kevin Field, University of Michigan; Takaaki Koyanagi, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Yuanyuan Zhu, University Of Connecticut; Dalong Zhang, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Thursday 2:00 PM
March 3, 2022
Room: 203A
Location: Anaheim Convention Center
Session Chair: Lance Snead, Stony Brook University; Jason Trelewicz, Stony Brook University
2:00 PM Invited
High-performance Superconductors for High Field Magnets for Compact Fusion: Venkat Selvamanickam1; 1University of Houston
Several projects have been initiated on compact fusion based on superconducting magnets that operate in ultra-high magnetic fields. The enabling technology for these magnets is RE-Ba-Cu-O (REBCO, RE=rare-earth) superconductor tapes. While REBCO superconductors are being manufactured for prototype compact fusion systems, significant cost reduction is needed for future full-scale systems. Our goal is to reduce the cost to $10/kA-m by increasing the critical current at 20K, 20T by 10x and reducing the unit cost 3x. Our approach is through an advanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process developed at the University of Houston. This process has been used to fabricate REBCO tapes with 5 µm thick films which is not feasible by conventional processes. Additionally, through nanoscale defect engineering, we have demonstrated critical current 5x than that of commercial tapes in high magnetic fields at low temperatures. Recent progress in this project will be discussed in this presentation.
2:30 PM Cancelled
Radiation Effects and Thermal Stability in Ferritic Steels and High Entropy Alloys: Eda Aydogan1; Osman El-Atwani2; Koray Iroc1; Stuart Maloy2; Eren Kalay1; 1Middle East Technical University; 2Los Alamos National Laboratory
There is a worldwide need of nuclear energy due to the increase in the world’s population and the desire to reduce greenhouse gasses from burning of fossil fuels. However, nuclear energy systems operate under high temperatures and stresses, chemically corrosive environments, and high neutron fluxes. Engineered ferritic alloys are one of the best materials for high temperature and extreme radiation environments. Moreover, new material system of refractory high entropy alloys (RHEAs) have demonstrated great promise. In this study, thermal stability and radiation resistance of nanostructured ferritic alloy (NFA), 14YWT, produced by powder metallurgy methods and TiZrHfNbTa RHEAs produced by vacuum arc melting and additive manufacturing techniques have been investigated. Recently, we have shown that NFAs and RHEAs are extremely stable up to >1000 ⁰C and they show almost zero swelling under high dose irradiation.
2:50 PM Invited
Composite Shielding for Advanced Fusion Systems: Lance Snead1; Steven Zinkle2; Jason Trelewicz1; Ethan Peterson3; David Sprouster1; Bin Cheng1; 1Stony Brook University; 2University of Tennessee, Knoxville; 3MIT
With significant improvement in High Temperature Superconductors (HTS), a number of projects are adopting HTS technology for compact fusion systems. While HTS irradiation tolerance is unclear, the lack of available space for shielding in compact fusion machines threatens the attractiveness of HTS. Current shield solutions use combinations of high-Z, low-Z, and absorbing materials such as W, H2O, and 10B. Unfortunately, as H2O is avoided for compact reactors and B-compounds suffer from irradiation instability and burnout, there are currently no hi-performance shielding materials to enable the potential performance of HTS technology. This presentation will review a relatively new ARPA-E program aimed at developing specifically engineered metal-matrix and ceramic-matrix composite shielding. These composites are notable insofar as they possess hydrogen densities similar to water through entrainment of neutron-absorbing hydrides. Shield effectiveness, implied stability, and the processing routes to entrain the relatively volatile hydrides in low-diffusivity metal and ceramic matrices will be reviewed.