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Nuclear fusion is an attractive option for creating sustainable energy, in principle using the same reactions found at the centre of stars to generate large quantities of power without carbon emissions.

But creating those conditions on Earth is difficult, and part of the problem is finding the correct materials to contain the fierce reactions.

The most common approach is to magnetically contain the high-energy particles, known as a plasma, in a tight circle running through the centre of a giant metal torus. This set-up is employed at the JET facility in Culham, just outside Oxford, as well as in the forthcoming ITER experiment in the south of France.

But even constrained by large magnetic fields, the plasma still subjects the walls of the vessel, likely to be made of tungsten, to extreme conditions.

Oxford University researchers, along with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, have been carrying out experiments to investigate the effect of radiation on the properties of the material used in the walls and on the materials' thermal conductivity.

Read the full article on the PhysOrg website.