| Abstract Scope |
Recent scientific and technological advances in plasma physics and fusion technology have spurred a dramatic acceleration in fusion energy system deployment. The two leading international reduced-activation alloy options for fusion energy structural applications are Fe-(8-9%)Cr-2%WVTa tempered ferritic/ martensitic steel (e.g., ORNL 9Cr-2WVTa, Eurofer97, F82H, CLAM) and V-4%Cr-4%Ti. Both alloy options exhibit good fabricability, acceptable mechanical properties, and attractive safety and waste disposal radiological behavior, along with documented resistance to radiation induced dimensional changes at intermediate temperatures. While recent breakthroughs have made the realizing of fusion power more tangible, the practical realization of qualified structures utilizing fusion-relevant materials is still dogged by a lengthy code qualification process.
This presentation will summarize several recent successful examples of rapid design, small heat fabrication, and scaleup to large industrial production of novel high-performance fusion-relevant structural materials, and will outline a strategy for staged code qualification and prioritized environmental effects testing of these new materials. In particular, this approach has been demonstrated for the rapid development and scaleup of a precipitate-strengthened reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steel. The new steel has ~50% increased tensile strength at low to intermediate temperatures, and ~10X improvement in the creep rupture lifetime at high temperatures (~650oC) compared to international benchmark reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steels. Similar approaches to rapidly develop and deploy high performance precipitate-strengthened vanadium alloys and copper alloys will also be presented. |