(SATURN CDT) High-throughput Discovery of Multi-component alloys for Fusion Coatings

About the Project

In the UKAEA Materials roadmap, one of the near-term goals is to produce functional graded coatings that can be applied to the structural materials to protect them from corrosion resistance and tritium permeation. These coatings must survive extreme environments such as high energy neutrons and tritium, high magnetic fields, and high temperatures.

This PhD project proposes to investigate the large MCA space using high-throughput experiments, allowing compositions of interest to be identified quickly and then studied in more detail (i.e. irradiation and permeation measurements). For this fusion PhD, the main elements to study will be W, Ta, Ti, V, Cr, Zr and Cu.

Objectives

• O1: Develop a high-throughput methodology for the selection of MCA coatings for fusion components
• O2: Down-select 2-3 MCA compositions that have promising structural and thermal properties for detailed characterisation
• O3: Produce a composition-structure-properties map of MCA coatings for fusion components
• O4: Propose a new MCA composition as a new fusion coating