Modern, efficient power plants for aCO2-free energy supply require materials that can withstand the highest loads. The aim of the EU project INNUMAT (Innovative Structural Materials for Fission and Fusion) is to develop these as quickly as possible.
Researchers from the project, which is coordinated by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), want to investigate new innovative structural materials for use in nuclear fission, nuclear fusion and solar thermal energy and identify suitable materials. Structural materials are materials that are exposed to high mechanical stress during use and must therefore have special properties. "As they are to be used in nuclear or fusion power plants, the materials must be able to withstand a corrosive environment, very high temperatures and possibly also irradiation over many years without being damaged," says project coordinator Jarir Aktaa from the Institute of Applied Materials - Mechanics of Materials and Interfaces at KIT. Over the course of four years, six classes of materials are to be investigated and their suitability for extreme operating conditions examined using artificial intelligence and high-throughput characterization methods, for example.
The research program involves 36 partners - research institutions, universities and private companies - from 15 countries. The project has a total budget of 11 million euros, of which KIT will receive just over one million euros, mainly for investigations into the mechanical, corrosion and irradiation behavior of newly developed structural materials.
