| Scope |
Advanced nuclear energy systems, including small modular reactors, microreactors, and fusion pilot plants, increasingly require structural components integrating dissimilar materials to satisfy competing demands of strength, corrosion and radiation resistance, and thermal management. Conventional fusion welding often produces abrupt compositional transitions, deleterious intermetallic phases, and residual stress concentrations at dissimilar interfaces that become critical failure sites under irradiation and thermal cycling. Additive manufacturing and solid-state processing now offer unprecedented capability to engineer compositionally graded transitions and tailored dissimilar joints with controlled microstructural evolution. However, fundamental understanding of how these processed gradients evolve under radiation, mechanical loading, and corrosive environments remains a critical knowledge gap limiting their qualification for nuclear service.
This symposium brings together researchers from universities, national laboratories, and industry to discuss advances in the design, fabrication, characterization, and performance evaluation of gradient and dissimilar material systems produced through additive and advanced manufacturing for nuclear applications. The scope spans interface engineering and process optimization, radiation-induced degradation at compositional gradients, and mechanical integrity of heterogeneous material systems. A central objective is to connect processing scientists designing graded transitions with radiation materials researchers evaluating their stability under irradiation, accelerating development of reliable dissimilar joints for reactor components.
Contributions employing experimental, computational, and data-driven approaches are welcomed across five interconnected topics:
Topic 1: Additive and Solid-State Processing of Dissimilar Joints and Functionally Graded Materials: Process Development, Interface Microstructure, and Compositional Design
Topic 2: Radiation-Induced Degradation at Dissimilar Interfaces and Compositional Gradients: Segregation, Phase Instability, Defect Localization, and Performance Prediction
Topic 3: Mechanical Behavior Across Heterogeneous Joints in Irradiated Materials: Interface Fracture, Deformation Mismatch, Creep, and Structural Integrity
Topic 4: Computational Design of Graded Compositions and Dissimilar Transitions: Thermodynamics, Diffusion Modeling, and Data-Driven Optimization for Radiation Tolerance
Topic 5: Environmental Degradation and Corrosion at Dissimilar Interfaces in Reactor Coolant Environments: Mechanisms, Characterization, and Mitigation |