About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Modeling, AI Applications, and Method Development in Nuclear Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Irradiation-Driven Recrystallization in Fusion-Grade Tungsten: A Mesoscale, Microstructure-Aware Model |
| Author(s) |
Jinxin Yu, Sicong He, Giacomo Po, Jason R. Trelewicz, Timothy J. Rupert, Jaime Marian |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Jinxin Yu |
| Abstract Scope |
Tungsten is the leading candidate material for plasma-facing components in fusion reactors. However, its upper operational temperature is limited by premature grain coarsening due to recrystallization processes and neutron irradiation.
In this work, we develop a physics-based, mesoscale framework that couples crystal plasticity, stochastic cluster dynamics, and discrete grain boundary dynamics to model the co-evolution of plastic deformation, irradiation damage, and grain evolution in fusion-grade tungsten polycrystals. Parametric studies demonstrate the dominant influence of temperature on grain-boundary mobility, a weak dependence on plastic strain, and a pronounced retardation of recrystallization by rhenium segregation arising from neutron transmutation. Under fusion energy irradiation conditions, our framework predicts a substantial reduction of the effective recrystallization temperature relative to unirradiated microstructures, while Re production restores and even elevates this limit. This work demonstrates the potential of integrated mesoscale tools to assess the lifetime and operational envelope of W-based plasma-facing materials under fusion conditions. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Modeling and Simulation, Nuclear Materials, Computational Materials Science & Engineering |