What is it about?
Fusion energy paves a path to a low carbon future, but finding materials to stand up to the heat and radiation damage is needed. A recently developed technique, TGS, looks at thermal properties of fusion-relevant materials as they are damaged. A significant drop in single-crystal tungsten is concerning, given tungsten is a prime material candidate for many plasma-facing components. TGS as a technique performs well across all materials when compared to existing thermal data taken with another technique.
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Why is it important?
This technique, TGS, can help speed up the development of new materials for fusion energy, among other applications. Using technique with multiple materials and comparing them with existing data is key to validation.
Perspectives
This relatively young technology shows promise in becoming a diagnostic tool for nuclear materials performance. In this rapidly changing field new core techniques, like TGS, are offering exciting new ways to broaden and improve our nuclear energy capabilities.
Angus Wylie
University of Manchester
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Thermal diffusivity in ion-irradiated single-crystal iron, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten measured using transient grating spectroscopy, Journal of Applied Physics, July 2022, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0089048.
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