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Engineering the Next Generation of Industrially Scalable Fusion-Grade Steels
,
Benjamin Evans ,
Jack Haley,
Jim Johnson,
Alexander Carruthers,
Stephen Jones,
Dane Hardwicke,
Talal Abdullah,
Shahin Mehraban,
Nicholas Lavery ,
Paul Sukpe ,
Richard Birley ,
Abdollah Bahador,
Alan Scholes,
Peter Barnard
Journal of Nuclear Engineering, Volume: 7, Issue: 1, Start page: 1
Swansea University Authors:
Stephen Jones, Dane Hardwicke, Talal Abdullah, Shahin Mehraban, Nicholas Lavery
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© 2025 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/jne7010001
Abstract
Future fusion power plants require structural materials that can withstand extreme operating conditions, including high coolant outlet temperatures, mechanical loading, and radiation damage. Reduced-activation ferritic martensitic (RAFM) steels are a primary candidate as a structural material for su...
| Published in: | Journal of Nuclear Engineering |
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| ISSN: | 2673-4362 |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71221 |
| Abstract: |
Future fusion power plants require structural materials that can withstand extreme operating conditions, including high coolant outlet temperatures, mechanical loading, and radiation damage. Reduced-activation ferritic martensitic (RAFM) steels are a primary candidate as a structural material for such applications. This study demonstrates the successful production of a 5.5-tonne RAFM billet via electric arc furnace (EAF) technology, enabling scalable, cost-effective manufacturing. The resulting UK-RAFM alloy offers superior tensile strength and creep lifetime performance compared to Eurofer97. This is attributed to alterations in the initial forging process during manufacture. Modified thermomechanical treatments (TMTs) were subsequently applied to the UK-RAFM, which are shown to enhance the tensile strength further, particularly at 650 °C. Building on this, an Advanced RAFM (ARAFM) steel was designed to exploit the benefits of optimised chemistry to encourage metal carbonitride (MX) precipitate evolution alongside bespoke TMTs. Challenges around ensuring suitable processing windows in these steels, to avoid the over-coarsening of MX precipitates or the formation of deleterious delta-ferrite, are discussed. A subsequent 5.5-tonne ARAFM billet has since been produced using EAF facilities, with performance to be reported separately. This work highlights the synergy between alloy design, process optimisation, and industrial scalability, paving the way for a new generation of low-cost, high-volume, fusion-grade steels. |
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| Keywords: |
fusion; steel; creep; tensile; toughness; industrialisation; processing |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This work has been funded by the NEUtron iRradiatiOn of advaNced stEels (NEURONE) programme via Fusion Futures. As announced by the UK Government in October 2023, Fusion Futures aims to provide holistic support for the development of the fusion sector. In addition, part-funding for this work has been provided by the EPSRC Energy Programme, grant number EP/W006839/1. The research used UKAEA’s Materials Research Facility, which has been funded by and is part of the UK’s National Nuclear User Facility and Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials. The Lab-scale ARAFM used in this study was developed with support from the Research Wales Innovation Fund Collaboration Booster, PROJECT #FF2. |
| Issue: |
1 |
| Start Page: |
1 |