AMAZEMET signs Memorandum of Understanding with Fusion for Energy on manufacturing and joining technologies for fusion applications
AMAZEMET has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Fusion for Energy (F4E), the EU organisation responsible for Europe’s contribution to ITER and other major fusion projects. The five-year agreement sets a bilateral framework for cooperation on metal additive manufacturing and advanced material joining technologies for fusion energy applications.
The agreement was signed by Marc Lachaise, Director of F4E, and Łukasz Żrodowski, CEO of AMAZEMET. It follows F4E’s Call for Expression of Interest for private sector fusion initiatives, opened in 2024 to bring EU based companies closer to F4E’s technical programmes.
The Memorandum covers five areas: technical knowledge exchange and best practices on advanced materials and manufacturing methods, fusion specific requirements for materials and manufacturing solutions, the development of manufacturing, joining and coating technologies, testing and qualification including heat flux testing, and fusion relevant material codes and standards. No funding is transferred between the parties. Specific technical activities will be defined in separate agreements.
Components exposed to fusion plasma combine refractory metals with copper alloy heat sinks. The interface between the two has to survive repeated heat loads while the materials on either side expand at different rates, which places demanding requirements both on the feedstock and on the joining route.
“Fusion sets requirements that most industries never encounter. Materials have to survive heat loads and neutron exposure at the same time, and the components that face the plasma are rarely made of a single metal. Working with F4E gives us access to those requirements at the point where they are defined, rather than years later when they reach the supply chain,” said Łukasz Żrodowski, CEO of AMAZEMET.
“We are happy to establish a cooperation with AMAZEMET, a young company with a strong interest in contributing to fusion. Their know-how can bring new solutions to fusion engineering challenges, and, in return, F4E’s insight and experience from ITER can help them further develop and tailor their expertise,” explained Pierre-Yves Chaffard, Senior Projects Adviser at F4E.
