The use of nuclear fusion, which provides energy to the sun and stars, to meet the energy needs of the Earth, goes a step further after researchers have shown that the use of two types of images can help them evaluate the Safety and reliability of the parts. Used in fusion energy devices.
Scientists at Swansea University, the Culham Center for Fusion Energy, ITER in France and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany combine X-ray and neutron images to test the strength of the parts.
They found that both methods produced valuable data that could be used in the development of components.
The sun is a shining example of fusion in action. Under extreme pressure and temperature at the center of the sun's atom, the displacements are fast enough to bind and release large amounts of energy. For decades, scientists have been looking for ways to use this safe, carbon-free and almost unlimited source of energy.
One of the main obstacles is the shock temperature that the fuser components must withstand: up to 10 times the heat of the sun's center.
One of the main approaches for fusion, magnetic retention, requires reactors with the largest temperature gradients in the world and potentially in the universe: plasma reaches a height of 150 million ° C and cryogenic pumps, located a few meters away away, they are as low as possible. -269 ° C
It is important that researchers can test, not damage, the resistance of the technical components that need to operate in such extreme environments.
The research team focused on an important component, called a monoblock, which is a cooling tube. This is the first time that computed tomography creates an image of the new monobloc tungsten design. They use Neutron imaging instruments Neutron and Muon Source, IMAT.
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