PhD Studentship: Radiation Induced Degradation of Advanced Tungsten Borides for Spherical Tokamak Centre-column Shields

A 3.5-year UK PhD studentship is available at the University of Birmingham with a tax-free stipend. The project is co-funded by Tokamak Energy as part of the University’s Prosperity Partnership and will be collaborated with world-leading institutes in Germany, France and the US.

Background:

Fusion energy presents a significant opportunity for generating safe, carbon-neutral, and virtually endless power. Tokamak Energy, a private UK-based fusion enterprise, and the UK’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) initiative, seeks to illustrate the feasibility of commercial fusion by integrating spherical tokamak with high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet technology. However, the compact design of a spherical tokamak places the fusion plasma in close proximity to a critical component known as the “centre-column,” which houses the highly heat- & radiation-sensitive HTS magnets. Therefore, these magnets must be protected by spatially efficient shielding materials. These shielding materials will then themselves degrade when exposed to fusion’s extreme conditions - intense neutron exposure, temperature variations ranging from cryogenic levels to over 1000 °C, high plasma particle bombardment in regions facing plasmas and intense heat fluxes that may reach from tens of MW/m² to several GW/m² during plasma disruptions. Consequentially, the HTS magnet lifetime and extension the reactor lifetime is tied to the lifetime of shields in a fusion environment. Currently, very little is known regarding how novel tungsten-based shielding materials will degrade when exposed to fusions irradiation environment – especially at cryogenic temperatures. Specifically, Tokamak Energy has developed a new high performance proprietary material, di-tungsten pentaboride (W2B5) which promises to provide a game changing impact on shielding efficacity. However, essentially nothing is known in regarding the radiation-induced microstructural evolution and thermos-mechanical degradation of W2B5 and the entire WxBy system

The Project:

This PhD will study the effect of fusion-relevant irradiation conditions on degradation of tungsten boride materials, with a focus on W2B5. The study will focus on the following key questions
(i) Understanding the effect of cryogenic temperatures on radiation-induced degradation, especially radiation induced amorphization (RIA).
(ii) Understanding the volumetric swelling behaviour due to RIA and anisotropic lattice parameter swelling
(iii) Quantifying radiation-induced micro-cracking problem and benchmarking W2B5 behaviour with other anisotropic ceramics.

Supervision and International Collaborations:

You will be based at the University of Birmingham and will be co-supervised by industry leaders from Tokamak Energy (https://tokamakenergy.com/). This project will involve multi-national collaborators. You will specifically engage with and travel to the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at Orsay in France to use the world-renowned JANNuS in-situ/ex-situ ion irradiation facility (https://jannus.in2p3.fr/). Additionally, you will collaborate with the University of Birmingham and Tokamak Energy’s Prosperity Partnership team, which collaborates with other fusion leading institutes such as Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany & Oak Ridge National Lab/University of Tennessee in the US. You will work as part of team in a diverse, inclusive, multi-cultural and collaborative environment that nurtures excellence and innovation.

Who we are looking for:

A first or upper-second-class degree in an appropriate discipline such as, materials science and engineering, nuclear engineering, chemical engineering, physics, data science, mechanical engineering. No prior experience is mandatory. Some knowledge of fusion basics and/or microstructural characterisation would be advantageous. A driven individual with an inquisitive mind.

Contact:

Informal inquiries should be sent to Professor Arun Bhattacharya – a.bhattacharya.1@bham.ac.uk, Dr. Samara Levine – Samara.Levine@tokamakenergy.com and/or Dr. Sandeep Irukuvarghula (sandeep.irukuvarghula@tokamakenergy.com). Please include your CV and transcripts.

Advert information