Research Projects

In the advanced nuclear reactor, the high flux/fluence of deuterium (D), tritium (T), helium (He) plasmas exposure, 14.1 MeV fast neutron irradiation, and high elevated surface temperatures may modify the structural, thermal, and mechanical properties of host materials. The high dose radiation may also change the surface morphology (formation of nano-bubble, fuzz, nano-tendrils, and blistering), and even can cause cracking, voids, damage (structural defects such point defects, defect clusters, vacancy clusters etc.). The radiation stability of materials can be enhanced by removing these vacancies, interstitial atoms, and their clusters during irradiation. Nanostructured materials have received great attention due to their improved radiation resistance where the very high density of grain boundaries, phase boundaries in doped or alloyed nanomaterials, high density of hetero-interfaces in nanoscale multilayer act as a defect sinks/trap or release sites, expected to promote radiation tolerance. Among the various type of defect sinks, interfaces created due to nano-multilayer between two different lattice mismatch materials yields coherent and incoherent interfaces, are unique in various aspect. These coherent and incoherent interfaces can control the thermal, mechanical, and structural behaviour of a material in a controlled manner by choosing appropriate layer thickness and materials. Therefore, it is very important to explore the radiation effects on nano-multilayer, and understand the interactions between radiation-induced defects with different type of interfaces (defect sinks) for the design of advanced radiation-hard plasma facing structural materials. Tungsten (W), a refractory transition metal with BCC structure, low erosion rate, extremely high thermal conductivity, and melting point is expected to be one of the most suitable plasma-facing components, and structural materials for future nuclear fusion reactors. The nano-multilayers based on W with high melting point may ensure the outstanding performance of in terms of thermal stability. In this project, we will explore the structural stability and radiation-induced defect dynamics at the interfaces under ion irradiation in tungsten-based nano-multilayers. We will use the peculiar features of coherent/incoherent interface with BCC/FCC (W/Cu, and W/Ni), BCC/BCC (W/Ta, and W/Zr,), and BCC/HCP (W/Ti, and W/Nb) metals nano-multilayer systems to explore the effects of different type of interfaces on structural stability and defect dynamics under ion irradiation. The lack of suitable materials stands as one of the most challenging issues for the development of future reactors programme, and we believe that this project will generate quality output and will make us stands in strong position at right time in international research. The outcome of the project will be very useful for future nuclear reactor programme of the country.