Fusion materials science: Overview of challenges and recent progress

A brief review is given of fundamental materials science concepts important for development of structural materials for fusion energy systems. Particular attention is placed on displacement damage effects associated with the unique deuterium-tritium fusion environment. Recent examples of multiscale materials modeling results (closely coupled with experimental studies) are summarized. Fundamental differences in the behavior of body centered cubic versus face centered cubic crystal structures are highlighted. Finally, a brief overview is given of the high-performance reduced-activation materials being developed by fusion. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.