The overall objective of this subproject is to develop in a phased approach radically new protection materials with self-passivating effect under physico-chemically aggressive media, able to withstand at the same time high thermal and mechanical loads, and with passive stability (surface regeneration) under off-normal conditions.

Three groups of materials able to be
further developed to meet these
requirements are identified:

1. C-based materials,
2. SiC-based materials and
3. refractory materials,

One individual materials oriented work package is devoted to each of these groups of materials. A fourth work package is devoted to the testing under exposure to extreme environments and the application oriented evaluation, as this is of crucial importance for the use in protective applications.

The requirements to be met by these breakthrough materials are:

• High-heat-flux removal, high-temperature operation (heat flux 20 MW/m2, temperature >2000° C)
• erosion resistance (esp. reactive molecules, atoms, energetic ions of hydrogen, oxygen)
• thermo-mechanical stability (transient heat flux pulses, cool-down shocks)
• irradiation resistance (for nuclear applications only, in coordination with Subproject 3)

The key to obtaining these new materials will be to introduce minority constituents (dopants) into the matrix of the materials with controlled nanoscopic and microscopic dispersion. These will passivate the surface of the materials and prevent erosive reactions.