Low-temperature Resistivity Measurements for Materials Development in Fusion Research

Abstract

Comprehension of radiation effects in materials is still not totally well known. The combination of specific experiments and computational simulations is necessary to clarify the mechanisms of irradiation damage. Also it is one of the best strategies to carry out reliable bases for the development of correlations that will be able not only to provide trends that nuclear materials in operation are expected to follow, but also to guide the design of reactor components (DEMO) and properly guarantee their safety, maintenance and operational life. Main candidates as structural materials for future fusion reactors include: Austenitic Stainless Steels, Reduced Activation Ferritic/Martensitic (RAFM) steels: EUROFER, EUROFER ODS (9% Cr), ODS Ferritic Steels (12-14% Cr), W and W alloys, Cu alloys, V and V alloys.Low-temperature resistivity measurements represent one of the few techniques that allow “in-situ” and indirect evaluation of radiation effects in the atomic lattice of metallic materials as well as validation of multiscale modeling simulations. This work highlights the potential of such technique to study damage processes and reveals the interest of the fusion materials scientific community specifically for radiation effects modelling and experimental validation.