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sciencedirect.com
article
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/fusion-reactor-material
Fusion reactor materials refer to structural materials specifically engineered to withstand extreme conditions in nuclear fusion reactors, including high temperatures, intense neutron irradiation, and corrosive environments. The complex service environment of fusion reactors and the structure of the tritium-related components of power plants entail high performance requirements for tritium permeation barriers, such as irradiation and corrosion resistance, low activity, high thermal mechanical integrity, Pbsingle bondLi compatibility, and applicability to large engineering components [10–13]. In Europe, the limits of ferritic or ferritic/martensitic steels, such as thermal creep and stress-to-rupture limits at temperatures above 550°C, are being addressed through the development of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) variants (for more details on ODS steels see Chapter 12 and Ref. Finally, alternative clad material such as SiC/SiC composites [49] might be used to increase the overall system temperatures of LFR, while controlling corrosion related phenomena.
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advent-rm.com
article
https://www.advent-rm.com/Fusion-Energy
The race to harness fusion energy - the process that powers the sun - has driven global research into high-performance materials capable of withstanding extreme heat, radiation, and plasma interactions. At Advent Research Materials, we supply high-purity metals, alloys, and polymers essential for fusion research applications. Our materials support critical areas such as plasma-facing components, hydrogen isotope containment, and structural reactor materials, enabling scientists and engineers to push the boundaries of fusion technology. Inside a tokamak, hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) are heated to extreme temperatures, forming a plasma where fusion occurs, releasing vast amounts of energy. These organisations are pioneering advancements in compact fusion reactors and alternative fusion approaches, driving innovation in plasma confinement, neutron shielding, and high-performance materials. * High-Purity Materials – We supply research-grade metals, alloys, and ceramics engineered to withstand extreme fusion conditions. By supplying critical materials for fusion reactor development, Advent Research Materials is proud to support scientists, engineers, and energy pioneers working towards commercial fusion power.
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nature.com
article
https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-025-00012-1
You need baseload power,” says Lance Snead, a materials scientist at Stony Brook University’s Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center in New York. At Stony Brook, Snead and colleagues are developing the materials to build the nuclear reactors of the future, which either split atoms in the case of fission power, or fuse atoms in the case of fusion power. Nuclear technologies require structural materials that can withstand temperatures of 1000°C or more, as well as radiation damage, with high-energy neutrons knocking each atom out of its stable position many times over the material’s lifetime. In the case of tungsten alloys, “grain boundaries serve as sinks for radiation defects,” says Jason Trelewicz, a materials scientist at Stony Brook’s Engineered Microstructures and Radiation Effects Laboratory (EMREL). Next-generation fission plants incorporating new materials are feasible within the next five to 10 years, Trelewicz says, but fusion reactors are further out.
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ornl.gov
official
https://www.ornl.gov/division/mstd/program/fusion-materials
## **Fusion Materials Program**. The development of materials that can withstand such an operating environment is the overall goal of the research done by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Fusion Materials Program. The program conducts both experimental and computational research with a central focus on understanding the fusion nuclear environment and its underlying physical mechanisms, with the end goal of using these insights to create new materials needed to realize viable commercial fusion energy. In addition to these capabilities, the Fusion Materials Program’s parent organization — the Materials Science and Technology Division — also operates scientific instruments in unique radiological materials examination facilities, such as the Low Activation Materials Development and Analysis (LAMDA) laboratory and the Irradiated Materials Examination and Testing (IMET) hot cells facility. ORNL’s Fusion Materials Program is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences initiative, as well as other DOE program offices, international government agencies, and various parties from the private sector.
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nae.edu
research
https://www.nae.edu/7558/MaterialsChallengesforFusionEnergy
Achieving higher power densities in fusion reactors requires the development of as-yet-unknown materials or confinement concepts, due to the high heat fluxes which would occur at the plasma-facing components of the reactor. The first goal has been to reach what's called the break-even condition, which occurs when the amount of energy used to heat up the plasma is equal to the amount of energy that is produced by the fusion reaction. I will focus now on three specific areas where materials impact fusion reactor design: the plasma-facing region, where there is high heat flux and particles are impacting the metal structure; the plasma-diagnostic, heating, and magnet systems; and the structure of the blanket and first-wall region surrounding the plasma, which is the heart of the heat-extraction system. If you look at the sputtering behavior of various materials at fusion-relevant conditions (10-1,000 eV hydrogen ion energies), stainless steel is one of the worst possible plasma-facing materials.
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news.mit.edu
research
https://news.mit.edu/2024/more-durable-metals-fusion-power-reactors-0819
MIT researchers have found a way to make structural materials last longer under the harsh conditions inside a fusion reactor.
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cen.acs.org
article
https://cen.acs.org/energy/nuclear-power/how-advanced-materials-unleash-fusio…
“That allows us to make magnets that are much more powerful and more compact so you can make [fusion] devices smaller,” Dennett says. Half the world’s fusion start-ups are using one of two common magnetic fusion reactor designs, tokamaks and stellarators—which also look like doughnuts but use asymmetric coils to produce twisting magnetic fields—and most of them rely on HTS tape. “The most fundamental problem in materials for fusion is the chicken-and-egg problem,” El Alami says. Whether it’s magnets or lasers that control the plasma, every fusion reactor will need materials that can handle incredibly harsh conditions. What fusion scientists and engineers do know is that developing high-tech materials and building a full-size reactor will require billions of dollars. And while the world waits for commercial fusion reactors to go live, the new materials technologies being developed could find use in other applications. Developing new fusion materials is especially challenging because of the “the lack of prototypical test-beds to measure the hardness of materials,” says ORNL’s Kato.
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pnnl.gov
official
https://www.pnnl.gov/fusion-energy-science
PNNL's unique scientific capabilities are helping advance fusion energy in areas, such as materials design for harsh environments, mechanical testing under realistic conditions, irradiated material handling and characterization, microscopy and microanalysis, tritium science, advanced manufacturing, high-performance computing, and machine learning. In a fusion energy reactor, materials at the plasma interface are regularly exposed to extreme operating conditions, such as high temperatures, large heat loads, and bombardment by energetic particles. PNNL’s research focuses on developing durable fusion energy reactor materials, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences program in the Office of Science. PNNL is advancing the field of fusion reactor materials research through new techniques to develop materials that can withstand extreme operating conditions. A distinguishing feature of PNNL’s Fusion Energy Science-funded research program is the tight coupling between theory, experiments, and computation that leads to deeper insights into the performance of materials. With a rich history of materials research and development, our researchers are using PNNL’s Solid Phase Processing capabilities to tackle the fusion materials challenge.