Researchers change nanostructures to develop materials for fusion
New materials could be constructed specifically for use in next-generation thermonuclear installations, following research by scientists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, published in the Journal of Nuclear Materials and Journal of Nuclear Materials and Energy. The MEPhI team discovered changing materials at an atomic level can "provide them with unique properties", after atom probe tomography helped record emergent nanoscale changes.
It is established that changing the nanostructure can change the properties of a construction material and as a consequence significantly reduce the lifecycle of active zones. In some cases, however, scientists manage to select nanostructure changes that considerably expand opportunities for using materials and provide them with unique properties, such as high heat resistance.

During the experiments, Fe-Cr model alloys and oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steels were exposed to various impacts, whereupon the emergent nanoscale changes in properties were recorded with the help of atom probe tomography.

"Our work was to analyze the nanoscale state of the materials and its restructuring under various impacts. We induced thermal ageing and used beams of metal ions to establish that their influence could lead to the breakage of nanostructure," Sergei Rogozhkin, deputy head of the Department of Extreme States of Matter Physics at the MEPHi Institute of Nuclear Physics and Technologies, told RIA Novosti.

According to Mr. Rogozhkin, their research could be used to create materials for ITER and for future energy installations. "ITER is meant to demonstrate the efficiency of the thermonuclear reactor concept. Requirements on materials are high at this stage, but a next-generation thermonuclear installation will create even more extreme conditions and fundamentally new materials, including those we are studying now, are being developed precisely for them," he explained.