Application of novel ceramic synthesis to the development of lithium-containing fuels for nuclear fusion

核聚变是裂变的一种有吸引力的替代选择，因为它提供了发电的潜力，而不会产生温室气体和长寿的放射性废物。采用聚变的最大挑战之一是开发能够承受聚变反应堆极端环境的材料，在聚变反应堆中，氢、氢和氚的同位素将聚变在一起，释放出巨大的能量。据提议，将在聚变反应堆内产生氚，该区域被称为增殖包层，含锂陶瓷将作为氚增殖材料的候选材料。从增殖堆中提取氚取决于增殖堆的材料密度，在理论密度为&gt；90%的样品中报道了最佳的氚回收。锂与空气发生反应，因此很难用标准方法生产致密陶瓷。此外，在用标准方法生产的锂陶瓷中观察到了纳米级的缺陷，这可能会严重影响这些材料作为聚变燃料的适用性。在谢菲尔德大学，我们开发了新的低温合成方法，这在生产致密的锂陶瓷方面显示出巨大的前景。本项目将探索使用这些方法来生产无缺陷、致密的聚变用锂陶瓷。一旦制造完成，这些材料的反应堆内性能将使用实验模拟聚变环境对材料影响的技术来确定。

Nuclear fusion is an attractive alternative to fission because it offers the potential for power generation without the production of greenhouse gases and long-lived radioactive waste. One of the greatest challenges in adopting fusion lies in developing materials that can withstand the extreme environment of a fusion reactor, where isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, will fuse together, releasing enormous amounts of energy. It is proposed that tritium will be produced within the fusion reactor, in a region called the breeder blanket, with lithium-containing ceramics as candidates for the tritium breeder material. Tritium extraction from the breeder is dependent on breeder material density, with optimum tritium recovery reported in samples with >90% of theoretical density. Lithium reacts with air and so it is difficult to produce dense ceramics using standard methods. Furthermore, nano-scale defects have been observed in Li-ceramics produced by standard methods, which could have serious implications for the suitability of these materials as a fuel for fusion. At the University of Sheffield, we have developed novel low-temperature synthesis methods, which show great promise in producing dense, Li-ceramics. This project will explore the use of these methods to produce defect free, dense Li-ceramics for fusion. Once fabricated, the in-reactor performance of these materials will be determined using techniques that simulate experimentally the impact of the fusion environment on materials.