{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/151997"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/151997","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"NITE–Processed SiC/SiC Ceramic Composites in Liquid Sandwich Vacuum Vessel","abstract":"In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration released their Bold Decadal Vision for Com-mercial Fusion Energy [1]. The plan called for the rapid development of robust and economical commercial fusion technology. This thesis focuses on the vacuum ves-sels (VVs) surrounding the plasma in an ARC-class fusion tokamak. VVs require significant development to go from their current state of the art in research-scale, non-breakeven fusion devices to the much larger, thinner, and robust VVs that com-mercial fusion tokamaks will require. Conventional research tokamaks have VVs made of thick-walled steel or superalloys so that the device can resist the large disruption forces that occur when the plasma quenches. Commercial-scale VVs need to let ther-mal energy and neutrons through to the tritium breeding blanket surrounding the plasma while maintaining a vacuum. Thick-walled VVs hinder efficient heat transfer and absorb neutrons. A new \"liquid sandwich vacuum vessel\" (LSVV) design proposes to use thin walls of silicon carbide ceramic composite (SiC/SiC) surrounding a layer of liquid lead. Because liquid lead is much more electrically conductive than SiC/SiC, the liquid lead absorbs disruption-induced currents and the resulting forces. This enables the use of a thin-walled VV to promote heat transfer while still resisting dis-ruption damage. The SiC/SiC ceramic composite that the LSVV development team is most interested in is made using the Nano-Infiltration Transient Eutectic (NITE) process, which allows for very low porosity composites to be achieved. NITE-type SiC/SiC samples were characterized experimentally. Then, COMSOL simulations were done using a combination of literature data and the novel property data ob-tained in this work to show how an LSVV compares to conventional VV designs. Simulations show that the LSVV design achieves a 32.5% increase in the modified Carnot efficiency and reduces the maximum Von Mises stress in the VV by an order of magnitude, while keeping a safety factor of 1.268, as compared to a conventional solid-walled VV made from EUROFER97.","abstract_html":"In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration released their Bold Decadal Vision for Com-mercial Fusion Energy [1]. The plan called for the rapid development of robust and economical commercial fusion technology. This thesis focuses on the vacuum ves-sels (VVs) surrounding the plasma in an ARC-class fusion tokamak. VVs require significant development to go from their current state of the art in research-scale, non-breakeven fusion devices to the much larger, thinner, and robust VVs that com-mercial fusion tokamaks will require. Conventional research tokamaks have VVs made of thick-walled steel or superalloys so that the device can resist the large disruption forces that occur when the plasma quenches. Commercial-scale VVs need to let ther-mal energy and neutrons through to the tritium breeding blanket surrounding the plasma while maintaining a vacuum. Thick-walled VVs hinder efficient heat transfer and absorb neutrons. A new "liquid sandwich vacuum vessel" (LSVV) design proposes to use thin walls of silicon carbide ceramic composite (SiC/SiC) surrounding a layer of liquid lead. Because liquid lead is much more electrically conductive than SiC/SiC, the liquid lead absorbs disruption-induced currents and the resulting forces. This enables the use of a thin-walled VV to promote heat transfer while still resisting dis-ruption damage. The SiC/SiC ceramic composite that the LSVV development team is most interested in is made using the Nano-Infiltration Transient Eutectic (NITE) process, which allows for very low porosity composites to be achieved. NITE-type SiC/SiC samples were characterized experimentally. Then, COMSOL simulations were done using a combination of literature data and the novel property data ob-tained in this work to show how an LSVV compares to conventional VV designs. Simulations show that the LSVV design achieves a 32.5% increase in the modified Carnot efficiency and reduces the maximum Von Mises stress in the VV by an order of magnitude, while keeping a safety factor of 1.268, as compared to a conventional solid-walled VV made from EUROFER97.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lin, Yong Jie"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":"Bachelor","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Ferry, Sara E."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-06","date_published":"2023-06","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:36Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"rights_urls":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151997","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Ferry, Sara E."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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The plan called for the rapid development of robust and economical commercial fusion technology. This thesis focuses on the vacuum ves-sels (VVs) surrounding the plasma in an ARC-class fusion tokamak. VVs require significant development to go from their current state of the art in research-scale, non-breakeven fusion devices to the much larger, thinner, and robust VVs that com-mercial fusion tokamaks will require. Conventional research tokamaks have VVs made of thick-walled steel or superalloys so that the device can resist the large disruption forces that occur when the plasma quenches. Commercial-scale VVs need to let ther-mal energy and neutrons through to the tritium breeding blanket surrounding the plasma while maintaining a vacuum. Thick-walled VVs hinder efficient heat transfer and absorb neutrons. A new \"liquid sandwich vacuum vessel\" (LSVV) design proposes to use thin walls of silicon carbide ceramic composite (SiC/SiC) surrounding a layer of liquid lead. Because liquid lead is much more electrically conductive than SiC/SiC, the liquid lead absorbs disruption-induced currents and the resulting forces. This enables the use of a thin-walled VV to promote heat transfer while still resisting dis-ruption damage. The SiC/SiC ceramic composite that the LSVV development team is most interested in is made using the Nano-Infiltration Transient Eutectic (NITE) process, which allows for very low porosity composites to be achieved. NITE-type SiC/SiC samples were characterized experimentally. Then, COMSOL simulations were done using a combination of literature data and the novel property data ob-tained in this work to show how an LSVV compares to conventional VV designs. Simulations show that the LSVV design achieves a 32.5% increase in the modified Carnot efficiency and reduces the maximum Von Mises stress in the VV by an order of magnitude, while keeping a safety factor of 1.268, as compared to a conventional solid-walled VV made from EUROFER97."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.B."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["NITE–Processed SiC/SiC Ceramic Composites in Liquid Sandwich Vacuum Vessel"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Ferry, Sara E."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Lin, Yong Jie"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-08-30T15:57:58Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-08-30T15:57:58Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023-06"],"dc:description.abstract":["In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration released their Bold Decadal Vision for Com-mercial Fusion Energy [1]. The plan called for the rapid development of robust and economical commercial fusion technology. This thesis focuses on the vacuum ves-sels (VVs) surrounding the plasma in an ARC-class fusion tokamak. VVs require significant development to go from their current state of the art in research-scale, non-breakeven fusion devices to the much larger, thinner, and robust VVs that com-mercial fusion tokamaks will require. Conventional research tokamaks have VVs made of thick-walled steel or superalloys so that the device can resist the large disruption forces that occur when the plasma quenches. Commercial-scale VVs need to let ther-mal energy and neutrons through to the tritium breeding blanket surrounding the plasma while maintaining a vacuum. Thick-walled VVs hinder efficient heat transfer and absorb neutrons. A new \"liquid sandwich vacuum vessel\" (LSVV) design proposes to use thin walls of silicon carbide ceramic composite (SiC/SiC) surrounding a layer of liquid lead. Because liquid lead is much more electrically conductive than SiC/SiC, the liquid lead absorbs disruption-induced currents and the resulting forces. This enables the use of a thin-walled VV to promote heat transfer while still resisting dis-ruption damage. The SiC/SiC ceramic composite that the LSVV development team is most interested in is made using the Nano-Infiltration Transient Eutectic (NITE) process, which allows for very low porosity composites to be achieved. NITE-type SiC/SiC samples were characterized experimentally. Then, COMSOL simulations were done using a combination of literature data and the novel property data ob-tained in this work to show how an LSVV compares to conventional VV designs. Simulations show that the LSVV design achieves a 32.5% increase in the modified Carnot efficiency and reduces the maximum Von Mises stress in the VV by an order of magnitude, while keeping a safety factor of 1.268, as compared to a conventional solid-walled VV made from EUROFER97."],"dc:description.degree":["S.B."],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151997"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted","Copyright retained by author(s)"],"dc:rights.uri":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"dc:title":["NITE–Processed SiC/SiC Ceramic Composites in Liquid Sandwich Vacuum Vessel"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Bachelor","Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:36Z"}