AM-SHIELD

Motivation

The development of an economically viable fusion power plant critically depends on the mechanical engineering design and fabrication of components located close to the reactor. Plasma-facing structures such as the blanket are exposed to extreme thermal loads, steep mechanical gradients, and intense neutron irradiation. This combination leads to embrittlement, swelling, and microstructural degradation, whose long-term effects can only be predicted to a limited extent at present.

At the same time, blanket components are geometrically highly complex: they must dissipate heat efficiently and incorporate finely structured functional and cooling channels. Such geometries are only achievable to a limited degree with conventional manufacturing methods. There is therefore an urgent need for fabrication technologies that offer high design freedom while enabling the use of materials capable of withstanding the extreme conditions inside fusion reactors.

Role of Fraunhofer IWS:

Fraunhofer IWS possesses extensive expertise in the additive manufacturing of large-volume metal structures, high-throughput materials design, materials science characterization, and data-driven process development. These capabilities allow the institute to address challenges on both the materials and manufacturing sides in a comprehensive and scientifically robust manner.

Aims and Procedure

AM-SHIELD aims to develop a hybrid manufacturing approach that enables the production of complex, large-volume structural components made of Eurofer97, while accounting for both geometric design freedom and economically viable process control. In parallel, an accelerated development and evaluation workflow for new irradiation-resistant materials is to be established. Ion irradiation serves as a central tool for efficiently and reproducibly simulating material degradation under fusion conditions.

Fraunhofer IWS assumes a key role in this process: it advances additive manufacturing processes, optimizes the processing of Eurofer97 and new alloy variants, and analyzes their microstructural and property evolution. Through its high-throughput materials design capabilities, the institute makes a significant contribution to systematically generating and comparing material variants and integrating them into transferable process chains. In this way, a robust foundation is created for scalable production routes that can later be deployed in industrial environments.

Innovation and Perspectives

AM-SHIELD combines, for the first time, the rapid development of radiation-resistant materials with their reliable additive and hybrid processing. Combinatorial alloy design enables the efficient exploration of a wide range of high-entropy alloys and their targeted optimization for fusion conditions. Ion irradiation provides a novel, rapid approach to obtaining robust insights into damage mechanisms and material stability.

At the same time, high-performance additive and hybrid manufacturing processes are being further developed so that complex blanket structures can be produced economically in the future. In doing so, the project establishes a crucial technological foundation for making future fusion power plants feasible at all.

Beyond fusion, the materials, methods, and process routes developed open up broad opportunities – for example, in energy technology, the hydrogen economy, and high-temperature plant engineering. AM-SHIELD can thus provide important impulses for future high-performance applications far beyond the immediate project context.