Research Progress of Al₂O₃ Composite Tritium Permeation Barrier and Its Preparation Technology AITranslate

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Basic Information:

DOI：10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY25040007

Chinese Library Classification Number:TG174.4

Citation Information:

With the gradual scarcity of non-renewable conventional energy sources, clean and sustainable fusion energy has emerged as a promising solution to future energy crisis. As one of the main fuels in fusion reactors, tritium can easily penetrate from structural materials to other systems, and even into the environment, causing fuel loss and radioactive contamination. Therefore, controlling tritium penetration has become an urgent technical challenge for fusion energy development. Tritium permeation barriers (TPBs) can effectively suppress permeation. Among these, Al₂O₃ composite coatings play an important role in the research of tritium permeation barriers due to their excellent comprehensive performance, such as higher permeation reduction factor (PRF), stronger substrate adhesion, higher resistivity, more effective mitigation of thermal mismatch, fewer tritium diffusion paths, more tritium traps, and resistance to liquid Pb-Li corrosion. This paper mainly reviewed the research progress of mainstream Al₂O₃ composite tritium permeation barriers such as FeAl/Al₂O₃, Al₂O₃/Ti and Al₂O₃/Cr₂O₃, and introduced the commonly used preparation techniques, including magnetron sputtering (MS), electrochemical deposition (ECD), pack cementation (PC), metal-organic decomposition (MOD), pulsed laser deposition (PLD), sol-gel and hot-dip aluminizing (HDA). The effects of material composition, preparation technology, irradiation, thermal shock, corrosion and other factors on the tritium blocking properties of Al₂O₃ composite tritium permeation barriers in the actual operating conditions of fusion reactors were emphasized. The tritium blocking mechanisms such as substrate effect, permeation mechanism and irradiation effect were discussed. Additionally, it highlighted potential pathways to directly or indirectly enhance the performance of Al₂O₃ coatings, such as developing simple and innovative deposition techniques, constructing composite coatings with diverse materials, modifying coatings through beneficial element doping, adjusting microstructural properties, and conducting performance evaluation tests under simulated fusion reactor environments. The ways to improve the tritium blocking of Al₂O₃ composite tritium barriers were pointed out, and the future research focus was envisioned. Preliminary breakthroughs had been achieved in both the design and preparation of Al₂O₃ composite TPBs, with PRF generally maintained at 3~5 orders of magnitude. However, further investigation was needed into the effects of neutron and heavy ion irradiation, as well as Pb-Li environments, on the structural and functional stability and lifespan of Al₂O₃ composite TPBs. For complex and specialized components like blankets and elbow inner walls, key technical challenges in the large-scale production of high-quality TPBs at an engineering level remained unresolved. These could be addressed by advancing large-area, complex-structure, high-efficiency, and low-cost coating preparation techniques, such as liquid-phase methods. Meanwhile, more research efforts should be directed toward other composite TPB materials, such as GO-Al₂O₃, Y₂O₃/Al₂O₃ and Er₂O₃/Al₂O₃, including their preparation processes, performance testing and exploration of multilayer gradient-structure composite coating systems, to provide more reliable options for the engineering application of TPBs in fusion reactors.