Plasma-facing materials (PFMs) in future fusion devices will
be exposed to demanding operating conditions involving high heat fluxes,
aggressive particle and neutron fluxes, and high stresses. Although tungsten has emerged as a promising candidate,
there are several outstanding issues yet to be resolved, including high
temperature stability, mechanical performance, and radiation tolerance. The aim of this research is to address these limitations
in tandem by precisely tailoring the volume fraction, chemistry, and structural
state of grain boundaries in tungsten. These
novel materials, known as solute-stabilized nanostructured tungsten alloys, will
be designed and screened through thermodynamic modeling coupled with in situ electron microscopy experiments. Select alloys will then be scaled via powder
metallurgy processes to synthesize bulk materials for mapping structure-property-performance
correlations. The insights established
through this research will markedly enhance the state of tungsten alloys for
fusion applications and, in turn, provide opportunities to validate their
performance under relevant PFM conditions.