Bonding of vanadium- and Iron-based alloys as interlayers for plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion systems

Tim Gräning; Deniz Ebeperi; Ibrahim Karaman; Ishtiaque Robin; Mobashera Saima Haque; Akhil Kolanti; David Sprouster; Lance Snead; Yutai Katoh

doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114749

Bonding of vanadium- and Iron-based alloys as interlayers for plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion systems

Tim Gräning
, Deniz Ebeperi
, Ibrahim Karaman
, Ishtiaque Robin
, Mobashera Saima Haque
, Akhil Kolanti
, David Sprouster
, Lance Snead
, Yutai Katoh

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Vanadium alloys and FeCrAl were investigated as interlayers between tungsten and reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel for fusion system components to avoid formation of intermetallic phase at operating temperatures between 550 and 1100 °C, while maintaining a body centered cubic phase throughout the interface. Physical and mechanical properties need to be graded between tungsten and steel, but recent results showed a significant hardness increase at the FeCrAl to vanadium alloy interface. Here, a sintered sample of these alloys was annealed for extended time, and the microstructure was investigated to provide a better understanding of the phenomena. A comparison with an additively manufactured interface of the same material is provided. An unexpected L2₁ intermetallic phase formation has been revealed using microscopy and synchrotron techniques and will inform future additive manufacturing approaches of the interface. A Cr layer interface as a preliminary solution was proposed between the Vanadium alloy and FeCrAl alloy interface.

Original language	English
Article number	114749
Journal	Materials and Design
Volume	259
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114749
State	Published - Nov 2025

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan(http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). Additional support is provided by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) under Award Number 20/CJ000/08/03 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. These experiments were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under contract DE-SC0018322 with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York at Stony Brook. This research used resources at the Pair Distribution Function Beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704. The research at Texas A&M University was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy under the Award number DE-AR0001370 (GAMOW Program) and DE-AR0001988 (CHADWICK Program). The authors want to thank the internal reviewer Yan-Ru Lin and Gabe Parker. The research at Texas A&M University was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), U.S. Department of Energy under the Award number DE-AR0001370 (GAMOW Program) and DE-AR0001988 (CHADWICK Program). The authors want to thank the internal reviewer Yan-Ru Lin and Gabe Parker. These experiments were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under contract DE-SC0018322 with the Research Foundation for the State University of New York at Stony Brook. This research used resources at the Pair Distribution Function Beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704 . This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan(http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). Additional support is provided by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) under Award Number 20/CJ000/08/03 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Keywords

Additive manufacturing
Direct Energy Deposition
Functionally Graded Materials
Fusion materials
Plasma-facing material
Vanadium

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10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114749

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title = "Bonding of vanadium- and Iron-based alloys as interlayers for plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion systems",

abstract = "Vanadium alloys and FeCrAl were investigated as interlayers between tungsten and reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel for fusion system components to avoid formation of intermetallic phase at operating temperatures between 550 and 1100 °C, while maintaining a body centered cubic phase throughout the interface. Physical and mechanical properties need to be graded between tungsten and steel, but recent results showed a significant hardness increase at the FeCrAl to vanadium alloy interface. Here, a sintered sample of these alloys was annealed for extended time, and the microstructure was investigated to provide a better understanding of the phenomena. A comparison with an additively manufactured interface of the same material is provided. An unexpected L21 intermetallic phase formation has been revealed using microscopy and synchrotron techniques and will inform future additive manufacturing approaches of the interface. A Cr layer interface as a preliminary solution was proposed between the Vanadium alloy and FeCrAl alloy interface.",

keywords = "Additive manufacturing, Direct Energy Deposition, Functionally Graded Materials, Fusion materials, Plasma-facing material, Vanadium",

author = "Tim Gr{\"a}ning and Deniz Ebeperi and Ibrahim Karaman and Ishtiaque Robin and Haque, \{Mobashera Saima\} and Akhil Kolanti and David Sprouster and Lance Snead and Yutai Katoh",

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T1 - Bonding of vanadium- and Iron-based alloys as interlayers for plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion systems

AU - Gräning, Tim

AU - Ebeperi, Deniz

AU - Karaman, Ibrahim

AU - Robin, Ishtiaque

AU - Haque, Mobashera Saima

AU - Kolanti, Akhil

AU - Sprouster, David

AU - Snead, Lance

AU - Katoh, Yutai

PY - 2025/11

Y1 - 2025/11

N2 - Vanadium alloys and FeCrAl were investigated as interlayers between tungsten and reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel for fusion system components to avoid formation of intermetallic phase at operating temperatures between 550 and 1100 °C, while maintaining a body centered cubic phase throughout the interface. Physical and mechanical properties need to be graded between tungsten and steel, but recent results showed a significant hardness increase at the FeCrAl to vanadium alloy interface. Here, a sintered sample of these alloys was annealed for extended time, and the microstructure was investigated to provide a better understanding of the phenomena. A comparison with an additively manufactured interface of the same material is provided. An unexpected L21 intermetallic phase formation has been revealed using microscopy and synchrotron techniques and will inform future additive manufacturing approaches of the interface. A Cr layer interface as a preliminary solution was proposed between the Vanadium alloy and FeCrAl alloy interface.

AB - Vanadium alloys and FeCrAl were investigated as interlayers between tungsten and reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel for fusion system components to avoid formation of intermetallic phase at operating temperatures between 550 and 1100 °C, while maintaining a body centered cubic phase throughout the interface. Physical and mechanical properties need to be graded between tungsten and steel, but recent results showed a significant hardness increase at the FeCrAl to vanadium alloy interface. Here, a sintered sample of these alloys was annealed for extended time, and the microstructure was investigated to provide a better understanding of the phenomena. A comparison with an additively manufactured interface of the same material is provided. An unexpected L21 intermetallic phase formation has been revealed using microscopy and synchrotron techniques and will inform future additive manufacturing approaches of the interface. A Cr layer interface as a preliminary solution was proposed between the Vanadium alloy and FeCrAl alloy interface.

KW - Additive manufacturing

KW - Direct Energy Deposition

KW - Functionally Graded Materials

KW - Fusion materials

KW - Plasma-facing material

KW - Vanadium

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DO - 10.1016/j.matdes.2025.114749

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SN - 0264-1275

VL - 259

JO - Materials and Design

JF - Materials and Design

M1 - 114749

ER -

Bonding of vanadium- and Iron-based alloys as interlayers for plasma-facing and structural materials in fusion systems

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Keywords

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