---
title: "How the Durable Project uses AM to redesign fusion reactor wall components"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/how-the-durable-project-uses-am-to-redesign-fusion-reactor-wall-components/
date: 2026-02-09
modified: 2026-02-09
lang: en
author: "Davide Sher"
description: "DURABLE is a research project focused on using additive manufacturing to redesign the plasma-facing components (PFCs) of fusion reactors. The work aims to leverage optimized geometries, internal cooling channels, and..."
categories:
  - "AM for Energy"
  - "Industrial Additive Manufacturing"
  - "Nuclear Energy"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Interior-of-the-Alcator-C-Mod-tokamak-at-the-MIT-Plasma-Science-and-Fusion-Center-640x345.jpg
word_count: 457
---

# How the Durable Project uses AM to redesign fusion reactor wall components

DURABLE is a research project focused on using additive manufacturing to redesign the plasma-facing components (PFCs) of fusion reactors. The work aims to leverage optimized geometries, internal cooling channels, and monolithic AM designs to increase robustness, service life, and load limits for PFCs while reducing development time and costs. The project group sets a goal of providing more reliable and cost-effective components for future electricity-producing fusion plants, noting the complexity of materials and processes as a central challenge.

The initial context is a divertor architecture based on tungsten monoblocks brazed to copper cooling pipes. Although this setup can theoretically withstand many heating and cooling cycles, it has problems because tungsten is brittle and hard to shape and expands differently from other materials at the joints, which can cause large cracks and early failure. The program is working on new manufacturing techniques—laser metal deposition and laser powder bed fusion—to make solid or mixed parts of tungsten and copper that allow heat to flow smoothly instead of having weak joints. The new technology aims to create dense, nearly crack-free tungsten, enabling complex shapes with built-in cooling. The same approach provides design freedom for internal channels that more closely follow heat flux, improving heat removal and potentially extending maintenance intervals.

![](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/DURABLE-1.jpg)

“The benefits lie in longer component life, less rework, and lower risk at joining points, which is a prerequisite for extending maintenance intervals and reducing costs per operating hour,” said Niklas Prätzsch, Group Manager LPBF – Process & Systems Engineering at Fraunhofer ILT.

The program is scheduled to run from November 2024 to October 2027. Operational management is handled by VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH, with the lead partner named as the Association of German Engineers (VDI). Funding is provided by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under the framework “Basic technology for fusion – on the way to a fusion power plant.”

The consortium spans industry and research: metal AM specialist [toolcraft AG](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/toolcraft/); Forschungszentrum Jülich; Gauss Fusion GmbH; advanced AM materials supplier [H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/h-c-starck-tungsten-powders/); metal 3D printing hardware maker [AMCM GmbH](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/amcm-additive-manufacturing-customized-machines/); software provider ModuleWorks GmbH; RI Research Instruments GmbH; REUTER TECHNOLOGIE GmbH; and materials institute Access e.V..

The work is organized into nine main packages. Redesign efforts for first-wall panels and divertor monoblocks depend on AM process development and will iterate until results meet the project’s verification criteria. For industrialization, parameters and software from the research phase are being transferred to Toolcraft’s LMD/EHLA systems in collaboration with Fraunhofer ILT. Similar machine specifications between the lab and factory are expected to ease technology transfer; parameter adaptations are being executed and validated metallographically at toolcraft. Once processes are proven on production equipment, the team will define finishing steps to ensure the full manufacturing chain supports commercial fusion deployment.