The MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.
The MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.
Title: A journey to the center of the tokamak: Materials for fusion energy
Series: ASC Seminar
Organizer: Shreyas Balachandran
Abstract: The physics of fusion energy generation offers almost unlimited energy output and is based on confining light nuclei at such high temperatures and pressures that they fuse and release energy. However, this necessitates the creation of an environment more extreme than any other on earth. Temperature gradients across tokamak designs cover the range from -269°C (superconducting magnet operating temperatures) to 200 million °C (internal plasma temperature) in a few metres, and the radiation doses and dose rates significantly exceed those experienced by materials in nuclear fission reactors. Added to this, there will be extreme mechanical loading from thermal and magnetic field fluctuations in the plasma as well as possible exposures to highly corrosive coolants. This talk will provide a brief introduction to some of these significant materials engineering challenges and touch on the research and development ongoing in the Materials Science and Engineering team at UKAEA, the UK National Fusion Laboratory.
About the speaker: Alex Dickinson-Lomas is a materials scientist working on characterisation of advanced structural steels for fusion energy applications at the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Her research interests are primarily focussed on using electron microscopy to investigate radiation effects on the microstructural evolution of materials and using ion irradiation techniques to emulate high neutron flux environments. Alex completed her PhD in 2025 at the University of Birmingham, UK, investigating irradiation effects on solute segregation and precipitation in low alloy steels for nuclear fission applications using transmission electron microscopy, atom probe tomography and small angle neutron scattering.