Advanced Manufacturing Techniques & Processes

A fusion reactor consists of components with complex designs that requires advanced manufacturing techniques to build and fabricate. As these components operate in extreme conditions, the manufacturing requirements are significantly higher, and cannot be resolved with conventional techniques. Here at FEAT, we are developing manufacturing techniques to address these key challenges:

Large Format Manufacturing

We are developing large format manufacturing techniques to build key structural components of the fusion reactor. The key requirements of these components include complex geometries, presence of internal features such as cooling channels, and the need to manufacture them in a single build.

Core capabilities:

  • Robot-based Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) combines the flexibility of WAAM to print complex parts with internal features and a robotic setup to significantly increase the build area to handle parts >1 metre
  • Electron Beam Welding (EBW) enables the joining of thick sections between large components due to the deep penetration welds of >100mm achievable by the E-beam. The E-beam machine also comes equipped with a wire feeder for 3D printing via E-beam Wire Deposition technique
  • Powder Metallurgy (PM) opens up the possibility of producing high-performance materials, such as refractory alloys and ceramics in large formats, suitable for applications in plasma facing and shielding components
  • Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) utilising both Electro-Magnetic Acoustic Testing (EMAT) and ultrasound allow the characterization and validation of microstructure and defect density of thick sections fabricated by aforementioned techniques

Controlled Environment Manufacturing

Manufacturing in a controlled environment is crucial in producing key fusion components due to strict requirements to keep oxygen content and other contaminants low within the material microstructure. This is especially true for components that are in direct exposure to high neutron levels within the reactor, where the presence of elements such as O and N is undesirable

Core capabilities:

  • Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS) elevates the traditional plasma spray technique in atmosphere to a vacuum environment, allowing the processing of sensitive materials such as refractory alloys over large areas, with minimal oxidation and contamination
  • Laser Wire Deposition (LWD) equipped with an Argon Environmental Chamber similarly enables the processing of refractory alloys such as Tungsten, with localized deposition that allows the exploration of repair of fusion components

Multi-material Manufacturing

Due to the high temperature gradients within a fusion reactor, components with multi-material or graded material structures are necessary. The corresponding manufacturing methods will be required to process different materials with precise composition and dimensional control, with the compatibility of the materials to each other determined

Core capabilities:

  • Multi-material Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) comes equipped with a modified powder delivery system that is able to spread powder of different types on the same powder bed. Corresponding lasers of different wavelengths will then be employed to sinter the powder together, creating a multi-material structure all within a single build