Progress Towards Mass Production of Wetted Foam Capsules for Inertial Fusion Energy

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plants will require precision targets to be fabricated at high production rates. A single power plant will need about 90,000 to 900,00 targets/day, depending on power plant design. This far exceeds current day production. The development status and strategies of some high production rate methods for fabrication of targets for IFE will be reported on. The emphasis will be on low density (≤50 mg/cm³) polymer foam shells, several millimeters in diameter, which are useful for wetted foam target designs¹

We are developing spherical foam shells with density ≤50mg/cm³. Two main approaches are being pursued: microencapsulation and additive manufacturing via two photon polymerization (2PP). We outline the design of micro-projection-2PP printer for IFE (STARFIRE). We have microencapsulated dicyclopentadiene/norbornene (DCPD/NB) foam shells at 25mg/cm³ (RISE). We have taken some of these foam shells through solvent exchange, critical point drying, and overcoating steps, and continue to work to improve quality and fabrication yield. We have also developed techniques to microencapsulate foam shells with our GACH pure CH or CD foam chemistry. We continue to improve wall uniformity and drying processes for these foam shells.

References

[1] R.E. Olson et al, Physics of Plasmas 28, 122704 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0062590