Fusion offers an opportunity for abundant clean energy. Dr Tan Sui's research focusses on the joints that hold parts of a fusion reactor together. Understanding the distribution of residual stress in reactor joints is crucial for enhancing their structural integrity, and therefore for planning maintenance and enduring safe operations. To study the residual stress within these dense components, Dr Sui has used neutron diffraction and imaging, complementing her team's plasma focused ion beam and nanoindentation approaches to enhance structural integrity, maintenance strategies, and safety.
Dr Sui's recent research has focussed on joins in Eurofer97 steel, mapping the residual strain distribution using neutron diffraction with a resolution of 1.4 mm. Using 2D neutron Bragg edge imaging, she was able to achieve a high spatial resolution of up to 200 µm, enabling her and her team to see the finer details of the residual strain distribution. This work was then extended into three dimensions, and into other (dis)similar joints.
Her work not only impacts the nuclear fusion industry through development of a model that can be used for lifetime prediction of joints, but also benefits the wider ISIS user community. By using neutron Bragg edge imaging combined with 3D tomography, she has broadened the scope of strain measurement, establishing new benchmarks in this area of research. Evaluating the residual strain in this way provides a productive and efficient inspection for nuclear fusion joints, and for a range of other diverse engineering components. By linking the residual strain and residual stress characteristics to microstructures, one can gain significant insight into the manufacturing parameters.
The impact of her work goes beyond ISIS, including key collaborations with the UK Atomic Energy Authority, which jointly funded and supervised the relevant PhD projects and the National Physical Laboratory via the Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship scheme. Through the 2024 Royal Society Pairing Scheme, Dr Sui's engagement with Parliament shows her commitment to bridge the gap between scientific dialogue and policy formation. These engagements extend the reach of her research in terms of the direct economic benefits for the nuclear fusion industry and contributing to the wider goal of Net Zero for the UK.
For further information about Dr Sui's research, you can read a recent ISIS science highlight on the work on combined neutron Bragg edge imaging and tomography, or visit her university webpage.
