Development of anti-permeation coatings for tritium facing materials for fusion

商用核聚变装置将使用放射性氚作为燃料源。由于氚在自然界中的稀缺性，必须人工生产，并且由于其放射性毒性和对候选聚变材料性质的有害影响，适当的氚管理对于提供商业聚变功率至关重要。例如，氚渗透到材料中不仅会减少可用于聚变的氚量，而且还会影响这些氚化组件的维护和处置路线。英国政府通过英国原子能管理局承诺到2040年提供一个原型磁聚变发电站。因此，为了满足这一最后期限，迫切需要了解氚渗透到面向氚界面的材料中，例如面向等离子体的材料。已提出用抗渗透材料涂覆现有的面向氚的材料（如钨（W））作为开发和鉴定新型块体抗渗透材料的更快的替代方案，并且是该项目的工业赞助商阿特金斯感兴趣的关键领域。在这个项目中，学生将使用实验方法，首先确定已知和新型防渗透材料中的氢和/或氚渗透率，以确定哪些材料提供最有效的屏障。接下来，学生将通过溅射产生最有前途的材料作为涂层，然后使用X射线和电子显微镜技术表征这些涂层。最后，在高温下的高能离子注入将被用来确定涂层对聚变相关环境的响应。在项目期间，学生将能够获得阿特金斯现场项目的工业经验。

Commercial fusion devices will use radioactive tritium as a fuel source. Due to its scarcity in nature, tritium must be artificially produced and, owing to its radiotoxicity and deleterious effects on the properties of candidate fusion materials, appropriate tritium management is critical in order to deliver commercial fusion power. For example, tritium permeation into materials will not only reduce the amount of tritium available for fusion but will also impact the maintenance and disposal routes of these tritiated components. The UK government, via the UK Atomic Energy Authority, has committed to delivering a prototype magnetic fusion power station by 2040. Therefore, to meet this deadline, there is an urgent need to understand tritium permeation into materials facing the tritium interface, such as plasma facing materials. Coating existing tritium facing materials such as tungsten (W) with anti-permeation materials has been proposed as a faster alternative to the development and qualification of novel bulk anti-permeation materials, and is a key area of interest for the industrial sponsors of this project, Atkins. In this project the student, using experimental methods, will first determine hydrogen and / or tritium permeation rates in known and novel anti-permeation materials, to determine which materials provide the most effective barrier. Next, the student will produce via sputtering the most promising materials as coatings, followed by characterisation of these coatings using X-ray and electron microscopy techniques. Finally, energetic ion implantation at high temperatures will be used to determine the coatings response to fusion relevant environments. During the project, the student will be able to gain industrial experience on live projects at Atkins.