ADVANCED APPLICATIONS OF DIAGNOSTICS TECHNIQUES TO FUSION-REACTOR MATERIALS

Development of the future fusion reactors requires structural material s capable to withstand extreme operation conditions, including the exp osure to 14 MeV neutrons and intense thermomechanical stresses. Furthe rmore, material technologies such as welding and joining, tiling, prod uction of components having unusual size and shape must also be develo ped. Therefore the microstructural effects produced in such materials by irradiation or thermomechanical tests must also be studied by suita ble ''diagnostic'' techniques. In this work, after an introduction rec alling the most critical material problems in fusion technology, sever al results are reviewed concerning the characterization of fusion-rele vant materials by using radiation-based techniques such as neutron and X-ray scattering, positron annihilation and some other more common on es.