Selected as part of the ANR’s 2025 Generic Call for Projects, the POREDGE collaborative research project (PRC) aims to design a new generation of plasma-facing components for fusion reactors. The approach is based on the use of porous metal structures, produced by 3D printing and then infiltrated with liquid tin.
The main objective is to improve the thermal management and durability of divertors, which are essential components subjected to extreme heat flows. By relying on capillary transport and self-repair mechanisms, capillary porous structures (CPS) filled with liquid tin should increase heat dissipation capacity while extending the life of these critical components. Precise control of pore size, combined with liquid tin infiltration, would offer better temperature uniformity and enhanced resistance to thermal loads ranging from MW to GW/m², thus exceeding the performance of conventional solid diverters.