Progress in Advanced Materials Under Extreme Conditions for Nuclear Fusion Technology

We report non-equilibrium Molecular Dynamics simulations that provide a nanoscale view for the modeling of shock wave generation in any kind of material. Our methodology reported here is able to cover similar times and length scales as experiments. We are studying the propagation of shock waves, and their consequences: structural transformations and induced melting. We apply our methodology not only to single crystalline materials like Ta, W, but also in double layer conformations of bcc/fcc/bcc and bcc/bcc/bcc materials, with clear interest for Nuclear Fusion Technology. Preliminary results point that W and Ta behave more efficiently in terms of uniformity under shock propagation than lighter materials. Moreover, we show that shocks in double layer structures propagate and generate pressure more efficiently than common structures.