Texas A and M researchers investigated how helium behaves in nanocomposite solids, materials made of stacks of thick metal layers. Their findings were a surprise. Rather than making bubbles, the helium in these materials formed long channels, resembling veins in living tissues.
“We were blown away by what we saw,” Demkowicz said. “As you put more and more helium inside these nanocomposites, rather than destroying the material, the veins actually start to interconnect, resulting in kind of a vascular system.”
This discovery paves the way to helium-resistant materials needed to make fusion energy a reality. Demkowicz and his collaborators believe that helium may move through the networks of veins that form in their nanocomposites, eventually exiting the material without causing any further damage.
“Applications to fusion reactors are just the tip of the iceberg,” Demkowicz said. “I think the bigger picture here is in vascularized solids, ones that are kind of like tissues with vascular networks. What else could be transported through such networks? Perhaps heat or electricity or even chemicals that could help the material self-heal.”
Abstract
Material degradation due to precipitation of implanted helium (He) is a key concern in nuclear energy. Decades of research have mapped out the fate of He precipitates in metals, from nucleation and growth of equiaxed bubbles and voids to formation and bursting of surface blisters. By contrast, we show that He precipitates confined within nanoscale metal layers depart from their classical growth trajectories: They self-organize into elongated channels. These channels form via templated nucleation of He precipitates along layer surfaces followed by their growth and spontaneous coalescence into stable precipitate lines. The total line length and connectivity increases with the amount of implanted He, indicating that these channels ultimately interconnect into percolating “vascular” networks. Vascularized metal composites promise a transformative solution to He-induced damage by enabling in operando outgassing of He and other impurities while maintaining material integrity.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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