Steven Zinkle

Steve Zinkle is the Governor’s Chair Professor for Nuclear Materials at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a joint appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His research interests include deformation and fracture mechanisms in structural materials, advanced manufacturing, and high performance materials for extreme operating conditions such as fission and fusion energy systems. He received his PhD in Nuclear Engineering and an MS in Materials Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), the Materials Research Society, the American Nuclear Society, the American Physical Society, and ASM International. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Title: High Performance Ceramics for Extreme Environments: Applications for Fission and Fusion Energy

Multiple emerging advanced technologies require high-performance materials to operate satisfactorily under extreme operating conditions such as ultra-high temperatures, high heat and particle fluxes, and corrosive environments. Due to a wide range of achievable thermal conductivities (insulating to highly conductive) combined with high upper use temperature, overall structural stability over a wide temperature range, and generally good compatibility with corrosive environments, ceramics are attractive options for many extreme environment applications.

A new generation of advanced high-temperature fission and fusion energy concepts are under consideration for projected future worldwide energy needs. There is also increased interest in nuclear power to enable future science missions involving space exploration. These next generation nuclear energy systems will require advanced high-performance materials due to the extreme operating environment involving high temperatures and heat fluxes, high neutron displacement damage levels and (for fusion first wall materials) intense particle bombardment. Key materials science challenges and research needs associated with reliable operation in these extreme operating environments will be summarized, with emphasis on ceramic materials. The potential for high-performance ceramics to function in these challenging operational environments will be discussed. Ceramic options include ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs), MAX-phase ceramics, complex concentrated ceramics (CCCs, also known as high entropy ceramics or multiple principal element ceramics), and a variety of particulate- and fiber-reinforced ceramic-matrix composites.