Mechanical and microstructural characterization of low activation steels as first wall of nuclear fusion reactors

Abstract

Currently, the design development of fusion reactors and the possible materials to use in them are being studied in parallel. One of the most critical problems in this research is the structural material selection for the first wall and blanket. The aim of the present work is to study three low activation alloys designed in Germany in which niobium has been substituted by tantalum or cerium. The mechanical results show that the alloys containing cerium are in the same order of the low activation materials known to date, but the tantalum doped alloy produces TaC₃ precipitation that destabilizes the matrix and provokes large microstructural changes. This causes a decrease of the mechanical properties at about 600 °C. This fact makes this alloy unsuitable for the first wall on fusion reactors, because the working temperature is near 550 °C.