COMBINATORIAL HIGH-THROUGHPUT SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF W-ALLOYS FOR PLASMA-FACING MATERIALS
Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Advisor 1
Sriram Vijayan
Committee Member 1
Joshua Mueller
Committee Member 2
Dan Seguin
Abstract
The development of advanced structural materials that can withstand the extreme environments presents a central challenge for many sectors, including energy, nuclear, and aerospace settings. Traditional alloy development strategies rely on individual fabrications for discrete compositions. Ultimately, these bulk fabrication methods limit the alloy design space due to long feedback loops. The traditional fabrication methods are further limited by refractory metals, especially tungsten, due to its high melting point and brittleness. To accelerate the tungsten alloy design space, research has pivoted to Combinatorial High-Throughput (CHT) techniques, which integrate fabrication methods that generate compositionally graded alloy libraries with rapid characterization metrics.
Magnetron Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) is a powerful and effective method for the implementation of combinatorial thin film synthesis. Co-sputtering multiple deposition sources simultaneously directed at a single substrate forms compositionally graded thin films. When characterized with high-throughput evaluation metrics, a materials library can be rapidly generated for advanced structural materials.
Combinatorial high-throughput alloy design is especially relevant to the investigation of nuclear fusion applications, specifically improvements to Plasma-Facing Materials (PFMs). These components are exposed to extreme thermal flux, constant neutron irradiation, and helium ash particle bombardment. Tungsten has been identified as a leading candidate material for divertors, a Plasma-Facing Component (PFC), due to its excellent thermal and mechanical properties, including a high melting point, low plasma sputter yield, and high strength. However, tungsten has many limitations, such as intrinsic brittleness, irradiation degradation, and thermal fatigue susceptibility.
Previous research in the tungsten alloy design space has been performed using various CHT methods. However, these studies are often limited, only exploring a small number of alloy systems. Additionally, differences in the fabrication methods between studies are marginally comparable. These fractured datasets motivate the development of an effective screening strategy for identifying tungsten alloy compositions with improved thermal conductivity, hardness, and elastic modulus to pure tungsten. This thesis seeks to establish a CHT workflow for the accelerated identification of promising tungsten-based alloys and propose promising alloy candidates, whose plasma erosion and thermal cycling performance are evaluated under fusion-reactor relevant conditions.
Recommended Citation
Earll, Aidan, "COMBINATORIAL HIGH-THROUGHPUT SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF W-ALLOYS FOR PLASMA-FACING MATERIALS", Open Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2026.