The equipment for nuclear fusion experimentation brings its own particular fabrication problems. Joints to be welded may be thick, or thin, or both and be in special stainless steel, copper and nickel alloys as well as conventional steels. The requirement is for the welded joints to be of the highest quality despite the challenging materials, joints and welding positions that are to be found in fabricating the large items of plant. There are frequently demands for low distortion (e.g. ~1mm) fabrication of very large parts (e.g. ~10m).
TWI continues to contribute in this area by offering optimised arc, laser, electron beam, friction and hybrid joining technologies many of which have been specifically developed for this work.
The technology areas of TWI of relevance to nuclear fusion plant are:
- Advanced manufacturing techniques aimed at thermonuclear fusion experiment applications
For more information, please email contactus@twi.co.uk.