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In the pursuit of clean and endless energy, nuclear fusion is a promising option. In fusion reactors, scientists attempt to make energy by fusing atoms together. They are trying to mimic the sun's power generation process where things can get extremely hot. To deal with this, researchers have been diving deep into the science of heat management. Their focus is on a special metal called tungsten.
Tungsten is a chemical element; it has symbol “W” and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolated as a metal in 1783. Its important ores include scheelite and wolframite, the latter lending the element its alternative name.
Tungsten occurs in many alloys, which have numerous applications, including incandescent light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes, electrodes in gas tungsten arc welding, superalloys, and radiation shielding. Tungsten's hardness and high density make it suitable for military applications in penetrating projectiles. Tungsten compounds are often used as industrial catalysts.
Scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are leading new research into tungsten. Their research highlights tungsten's potential to significantly improve fusion reactor technology based on new findings about its ability to conduct heat. It is hoped that this advancement could accelerate the development of more efficient and resilient fusion reactor materials. Their results were published today in Science Advances.
Siegfried Glenzer is a director of the High Energy Density Division at SLAC and a collaborator in the new research. He said, “What excites us is the potential of our findings to influence the design of artificial materials for fusion and other energy applications. Our work demonstrates the capability to probe materials at the atomic scale, providing valuable data for further research and development.”
Tungsten is very strong, can handle incredibly high temperatures, and doesn't get warped or weakened by heat waves as much as some other metals. This makes it especially effective at conducting heat away quickly and efficiently. This is exactly what's needed in the super-hot conditions of a fusion reactor. Rapid heat loading of tungsten and its alloys is also found in many aerospace applications. These include rocket engine nozzles, heat shields and turbine blade coatings.
Understanding how tungsten works with heat offers hints on how to make new materials for fusion reactors that will be even better at keeping cool under pressure. In this research, the scientists developed a new way to closely examine the details of how tungsten manages heat at the atomic level.
In physics, a phonon is a collective excitation in a periodic, elastic arrangement of atoms of molecules in condensed matter, specifically in solids and some liquids. A type of quasiparticle, a phonon is an excited state in the quantum mechanical quantization of the modes of vibrations for elastic structures of interacting particles. Phonons can be thought of as quantized sound waves, similar to photons as quantized light waves.
The study of phonons is an important part of condensed matter physics. They play a major role in many of the physical properties of condensed matter systems, such as thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity, as well as in models of neutron scattering and related effects.
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