Irradiation damage studies
Fusion engineering materials will be exposed to extreme irradiation fluences (>100 dpa). We investigate irradiation damage phenomena including solute clustering phenomena using Atom Probe (left) and helium gas accumulation using Transmission Electron Microscopy (right).

Oxidation resistance
The first-wall materials must possess good oxidation resistance if it will withstand a loss-of-coolant accident scenario. We study corrosion performance using oxy-acetylene torch testing (right) and have developed and patented corrosion barriers for candidate WC-based materials (left).

Thermomechanics
Fusion materials may be exposed to >1000 oC, making high temperature mechanical behaviour important. We try to understand potential mechanisms of failure, using techniques like dynamic flexural testing (left) and compressive creep (right).

Compressive testing of WC-FeCr composites to identify mechanistic retimes, showing 3 regimes of stress dependence, n.
Material development
The extreme conditions of a fusion reactor exceed the capabilities of industrially available materials, requiring new structures and composites to be engineered. We have developed metal-ceramic composite shielding materials, including W2B-W (left) and WC-FeCr (right) in which the metallic phase offers improved fracture toughness and manufacturability.
