材料科学新闻简报

其重要的技术意义，它在第一次和第二

次工业革命期间钢铁行业的爆炸式创新

中达到顶峰。虽然我们目前生活在工业

4.0 时代，对数字技术和生物技术发展 的依赖日益增加，但金属仍然是交易量 最大的商品之一，铁矿石也是除沙子、 砾石和水泥外开采量最大的材料。全球 每年的钢产量比硅产量高出两百多倍。

因此，冶金对世界经济而言仍然至关重 要。

工业冶金主要由钢铁行业主导，铁合金 仍继续广泛用于建筑、制造和电气等应 用领域。但是，人们对有色合金的兴趣 正在增长，特别是制造商，他们想要生 产出更轻型的结构（以减少汽车或航空 航天工业的燃料消耗等）或者找出能够 承受极端环境的材料（从实验聚变反应 堆堆芯到现代燃气涡轮发动机）。

有色冶金是一个很广阔的领域，涵盖大 量的材料和工艺，包括铝、钛等成熟行 业以及近期开发的高熵合金。本文探讨 了有色金属的专利申请趋势，以便全面 了解该技术领域的发展情况。

方法 我们的知识产权分析团队对 2012 年至今 联合专利分类 C22C（合金）类相关已公 布欧洲专利申请进行了调查，并基于与 有色合金相关的每个子类 1/00 到 32/00 对结果进行了细分。然后，我们分析了

Patent Filing Trends in NonFerrous Metallurgy

Metallurgy has been of huge technological importance to humanity since the start of the Bronze Age, culminating in the explosion of innovation in the iron and steel industry during the first and second Industrial Revolutions. While we are currently living through Industry 4.0, with an ever-increasing reliance on digital technologies and biotech developments, metals remain one of the most-traded commodities and iron ore is the most-mined material after sand, gravel and cement components. The mass of steel produced globally in a year outstrips silicon production by a factor of over two hundred. Metallurgy is therefore still vitally important to the world economy.

Industrial metallurgy is dominated by the steel industry, with ferrous alloys continuing to find widespread use in construction, manufacturing and electrical applications. However, interest in non-ferrous alloys is growing, particularly as manufacturers aim to produce lighter structures (to reduce fuel consumption in the automobile or aerospace industries, for example) or seek out materials which can withstand extreme environments (from experimental fusion reactor cores to modern gas turbine engines).

Non-ferrous metallurgy is a broad field and covers a large number of materials and processes, from established industries such as aluminium and titanium to more recently developed high-entropy alloys. In this article, we look at patent filing trends for non-ferrous metals to build up a picture of how this technology area is progressing across the board.

Methodology

Our IP Analytics team carried out a search for published European patent applications in the Cooperative Patent Classification C22C (Alloys) between 2012 and the present. The results were broken down for each of the sub-classifications 1/00 to 32/00 relating to non-ferrous alloys. We then analysed the total number of applications published, the top 10 filers in each area, and the publication trends over time.

肢（如人造髋关节）领域应用广泛。

我们发现，欧洲专利申请数量较多的领 域还有铜基合金 (9/00)、贵金属 (5/00) 、基于金属化合物（如碳化物、氧化物 或氮化物）的合金 (29/00 和 32/00)，以 及钛基合金 (14/00)。29/00 子类还包括 金属陶瓷，它是一种特殊的复合材料， 由陶瓷材料和金属结合构成。 我们发现，申请数量极少的领域有铅基 合金 (11/00)、镉基合金 (20/00)、锰基 合金 (22/00)、碱金属或碱土金属基合金 (24/00) 及铍基合金 (25/00)，这表明这 些合金目前在工业上的重要性不大，或 者这些技术领域缺少创新。

Strongest technology areas

As can be seen from Figure 1, 1/00 (Making non-ferrous alloys) was the sub-classification in which the largest number of European applications published in the past decade. This is perhaps not surprising, since the classification covers metallurgical processes which could be applied to many different base metals.

Beyond 1/00, however, each subclassification focuses on a particular base metal or type of alloy. Of this group, aluminium-based alloys (21/00) come out on top, closely followed by nickel and cobalt which are grouped together in sub-classification 19/00. This highlights the continued industrial importance of aluminium-based alloys as lightweight and corrosion-resistance structural materials, particularly for the automotive and aerospace sectors. Nickel and cobalt are also particularly important in aerospace, given that nickel- and cobalt-based superalloys are well-suited to withstand the high temperatures achieved in the hot sections of gas turbine engines. Aluminium, nickel and cobalt all find use in magnetic alloys (such as the Alnico alloy family), while nickel also forms the base of many shape memory alloys. Cobalt-based alloys are well-known for superior wear and/or corrosion resistance, and therefore find diverse applications in machine parts, dentistry and orthopaedic prostheses such as artificial hips.

Other areas where we found significant numbers of patent filings in Europe include copper-based alloys (9/00), the noble metals (5/00), alloys based on metal compounds (29/00 and 32/00) such as carbides, oxides or nitrides, and titanium-based alloys (14/00). Sub-classification 29/00 also includes cermets, which are a special type of composite combining ceramic materials and metals.

Areas where we found very few applications include lead-based alloys (11/00), cadmiumbased alloys (20/00), manganese-based alloys (22/00), alloys based on alkali or alkaline earth metals (24/00) and berylliumbased alloys (25/00), suggesting that these alloys currently have little industrial importance or that less innovation is happening in these technical fields.

Figure 1. Number of published European patent applications per C22C sub-classification between 2012 and today.

Biggest filers

欧洲的有色合金类申请主要来自由日本 公司主导，例如新日铁、三菱、日立金 属/化成、住友和 JFE 控股，其中几家 公司可能以钢铁生产更为著称。其他大 公司还包括西门子、通用电气、雷神技 术和肯联铝业。但是，不同申请人在各 技术领域的排名差异巨大。

1 中可以看出，日本公司 是 1/00（有色合金的制造）和

The non-ferrous alloys classification in Europe is dominated by Japanese corporations such as Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi, Hitachi Metals/ Chemical, Sumitomo and JFE Holdings, several of which are perhaps better known for steel production. Other big corporations include Siemens, General Electric, Raytheon Technologies and Constellium. The ranking of the various filers, however, varies quite strongly with technical fields.

For example, as can be seen in Table 1, Japanese corporations are the top filers in subclassifications 1/00 (Making non-ferrous alloys) and 9/00 (Alloys based on copper). In contrast, European and US corporations are much more active in sub-classifications 19/00 (Alloys based on nickel or cobalt) and 21/00 (Alloys based on aluminium), perhaps reflecting the greater importance of the aerospace industry in these regions. We also found that universities and research organisations only start to appear as top filers for more niche technologies such as alloys based on mercury (7/00) or cadmium (20/00).

between 2012 and today in C22C CPC sub-classifi

Filing trends

As can be seen in Figure 2, there has been a strong growth in the number of applications filed for aluminium-based alloys and alloys based on metal compounds (such as metal carbides, oxides, nitrides, etc.), as well as metallurgical processes used to make nonferrous alloys, between 2012 and today.

The increasing numbers of filings for aluminium-based alloys may well reflect the growing need for lightweight materials for the transportation, aerospace and defence industries. Many jurisdictions have implemented strict regulations to reduce CO2 emissions from cars, for example, and this had led to manufacturers seeking ever lighter materials to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency. Reductions in weight are also necessary to improve battery power consumption in electric vehicles.

Alloys based on metal compounds often exhibit superior strength and hardness, which make them able to withstand difficult environments. Metal carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides, for example, are often used in cutting tools, milling and grinding machinery, gears, and radiation

Cermets also fall into the same classification as the compounds and combine the properties of ceramics (such as high temperature resistance and hardness) and metals (such as toughness and the ability to deform plastically). Cermets are being used increasingly in the manufacture of high-temperature electrical components (such as resistors), as well as replacements for metal carbides or nitrides in cutting tools or in automotive and aerospace applications.

Making alloys

As can be seen in Figure 3, one area where we see a marked reduction in the number of filings is for sub-classification 26/00, which covers alloys containing diamond, as well as alloys containing fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and boron nitrides. Such nanostructured materials were a hot topic in academic research at the beginning of the 21st century, but it appears that few of these materials have found largescale industrial applications in metallurgy.

型的计算机系统的内部功能进行了技术 考虑）；或应用于 EPO 认定具有技术 性的技术领域。对于涉及 AI 的材料发 明，权利要求的编写可能相对简明，这 些权利要求会基于在特定技术领域的应 用来定义技术主题。但是，起草在某种 程度上使用 AI 的材料相关专利申请之 前，我们需要重点考虑 AI 在发明中所 扮演的角色。

AI 在该发明中扮演什么角色? 起草草案之前，我们必须就发明的性质

Drafting Materials Related Applications Involving AI: Considerations for Success at the EPO

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in materials science is rapidly growing. AI can be useful across a range of technical areas in the field, such as: screening databases of known materials; materials modelling; materials design; and the prediction of properties of materials.

Patentability of AI inventions in materials fields

When considering the patentability of AI inventions, we need to assess whether the EPO will consider the claimed subject-matter to be technical and therefore not excluded from patentability. The EPO considers this requirement to be met if the AI invention is either: adapted to a specific technical implementation (in the sense that the design of the AI model is motivated by technical considerations of the internal functioning of the computer system on which it is run); or applied to a field of technology which the EPO has determined as being technical. For materials inventions involving AI, it is likely to be relatively straightforward to write claims that are considered to define technical subject-matter based on application to a specific field of technology. However, before we draft materials related patent applications which use AI to some extent, an important point to consider is the role AI plays in the invention.

What role does AI play in the invention?

Before we start draft drafting, we have to ask some key questions about the nature of the invention. For example, is the AI aspect of the invention incidental to the invention or is the invention only possible because of the advent of AI? Or does the invention actually represent a contribution to the field of AI itself rather than just to a specific field within materials science? The answers to these questions help us distinguish between “Applied-AI inventions” and “Core-AI inventions”.

Applied-AI inventions

I’m using the term “Applied-AI inventions” here to refer to inventions which use a known AI algorithm to solve a problem in a particular area of materials science, i.e., where the invention lies in the manner

AI 是一个 实施细节，但不是主要发明。因此， 在起草这类发明的专利申请时，AI 实 施例在独立权利要求中可能作用不 大，甚至在从属权利要求中也没什么 用处。尽管如此，在描述中详述 AI 实 施情况可能有助于提供发明的详细工 作原理。

但是，AI 在材料领域开辟了诸多可能 性。第二类应用 AI 的发明是那些虽然

不代表对基本 AI 算法的改进，但是因

为 AI 的出现才得以实现的发明。在材 料科学中，使用 AI 来预测将形成具有 所需特性结构元素组合的发明，就属

于这类发明。例如，在 AI 出现之前，

人们可能不会考虑或者说实际上不可 能利用许多不同的元素来生产一种新 型合金，从而得到一种具有特定特性 的材料，这类方法会被视为具有创造 性。通过测定其他看似不相关的特性 来鉴别某一材料的某一特性（例如晶

体结构）的发明，也属于第二类应用

AI/材料的发明。由于这类发明的技术 效果在没有 AI 的情况下无法合理地实

in which a known AI algorithm is used. These types of inventions are considered technical (and so not excluded from patentability) by the EPO due to being “adapted to a field of technology”.

We can split Applied-AI inventions into two main categories: inventions where AI is incidental to the invention; and inventions which are only possible because of the advent of AI. The category of AI invention impacts the content that may be required in the claims and description of a patent application.

An example of a materials invention where AI is incidental to the invention and merely one way that the invention might be realised could be an invention involving a step of simulating the behaviour of materials under different conditions, in which the behaviour is simulated using a machine learning model (but might also be performed using other methods). For inventions of this type, AI is an implementation detail, but not the main invention. Therefore, when drafting a patent application for this type of invention, AI embodiments would be unlikely to be useful in the independent claims, possibly even the dependent claims. It may, nevertheless, be helpful to include details of the AI implementation in the description in order to provide details of how to work the invention.

AI has, however, also opened up many possibilities in materials fields. The second category of Applied-AI inventions are those which, whilst not representing improvements to fundamental AI algorithms, are only possible because of the advent of AI. In materials science, an example of such an invention could be using AI to predict combinations of elements which will form structures having desired properties. For example, it may be that producing a new type of alloy from many different elements to provide a material having a particular property would not have been contemplated, or indeed possible, before the advent of AI and so such a method could be considered inventive. Another example of this second type of Applied-AI/materials invention could be one that involves identifying a property (e.g. crystal structure) of a material from measurements of other seemingly unrelated properties. For drafting purposes, as the technical effect of these types of invention can’t reasonably be obtained without AI, the AI will likely feature in the independent claims of a patent application. We would also expect the description to include further details regarding the AI embodiments for

具有技术性（并因此不会被排除可专利 性）。

在第一种情况下，以

发明可以通过针对数学方法本身的独立 权利要求得到有效定义，并且不受任何 领域限制。这样可以确保，申请能够为 申请人提供最大数量的审查选择，特别 是在专利资格要求与 EPO 不同的其他 司法管辖区也将对该申请进行审查的情 况下。

但是，考虑到 EPO，从属权利要求应 包含范围不同的，最好是分级的特定用 例。有一点很重要的是，应就以 AI 为 核心的发明在欧洲可能获得的实际范围 以及此类权利要求的商业实用性开展一 次对话。

基于这一点，可以选择能够详细说明 如何将以 AI 为核心的发明应用于申请 人最具商业价值的 AI 模型和产品的用 例。因此，选择用例时，应该采用一种 战略性的方式，而不能仅仅依靠发明人 自己提供的用例。以这种方式创建权利 要求集，可以最大限度地提高以 AI 为 核心的申请获授商业相关性欧洲专利的 可能性。

充分性和创造性注意事项

describe how the invention is adapted to a field of technology, by providing use-cases. In Europe, even Core-AI inventions may need to be limited to a use-case to ensure the claims are considered technical (and so not excluded from patentability) due to being “adapted to a field of technology”.

In the first instance, inventions relating to CoreAI may be defined usefully by independent claims directed to the mathematical method itself, irrespective of any field restrictions. This ensures that the application offers the applicant the widest number of options in prosecution, particularly if the application will also be prosecuted in other jurisdictions having different patent eligibility requirements to the EPO.

However, with the EPO in mind, the dependent claims should contain specific use-cases of different, and preferably graded, scopes. Importantly, a conversation should be had about the realistic scope that may be obtained for Core-AI inventions in Europe and the commercial usefulness of such claims.

With this in mind, use-cases might be chosen that detail how the Core-AI invention could be applied to the applicant’s most commercially important AI models and products. They should therefore be chosen in a strategic manner, as opposed to merely relying on the use-cases provided by the inventors themselves. Building up a claim set in this way provides the best opportunity to obtain granted European patents that are commercially relevant for Core-AI applications.

Sufficiency and Inventive Step Considerations

In materials fields, providing experimental data to ensure that patent applications meet the requirements of sufficiency at the EPO and demonstrate an inventive step is usually a fairly major consideration when drafting. However, it should be noted that for inventions in materials fields in which AI is a key aspect, the provision of examples is also important in terms of sufficiency and inventive step of the AI aspects.

Researchers in the field of AI understand that the design of a training data set can be critical to success of an algorithm, as well as the possible effects of model assumptions and

此，即使是以 AI 为核心的发明，可能

也需要在申请中提供足够的证据，表明 申请中描述的“用例”是可信的（例 如，表明该技术效果是由要求保护的发 明实现的）。如果没有这类证据，申请 可能会被认为不具有充分性，或者可能 需要将权利要求限定在申请所描述的具

体“用例”中（例如更为狭义的技术效 果），并且是能够基于申请提供的证据 或者技术人员的公知常识证实在申请日 可信的“用例”。

结论

涉及 AI 的材料发明在欧洲是可以申请

专利的，但是单纯使用已知的 AI 算法 来直接改进已知的工艺或者实现已知 工艺的自动化的发明除外。但是，起 草申请时，需要考虑 AI 在发明中的作 用，以便制定合适的权利要求范围，并 为在欧洲的充分性和创造性提供合适的 证据。

design. Therefore, if AI embodiments are to be included in the claims, the patent application should provide information in relation to the training data set (e.g., size, how outliers are handled, selection), the model used to derive the AI (including the type of model, e.g. neural network, genetic algorithm, a decision tree, etc. and how the model is structured), as well as any assumptions made by the model.

Furthermore, if, as suggested above, it is necessary for a “use-case(s)” to be defined in the claims in order to meet the subject-matter eligibility requirements in Europe, this will effectively result in a technical effect being defined in the claims. When a technical effect is defined in a claim, in order for the requirement of sufficiency of disclosure to be satisfied in Europe, it is necessary for the technical effect to be made plausible to the skilled person at the filing date, based on the information provided in the application as filed and their common general knowledge. Therefore, even for Core AI inventions, it is likely to be necessary to provide enough evidence in the application to make the “use-cases” described in the application plausible (e.g., evidence that this technical effect is achieved by the claimed invention).

Without such evidence, the application could be considered to be incurably insufficient, or it may be necessary to limit the claims to a more specific “use-case” described in the application (e.g. a more narrowly defined technical effect) that is considered to be made plausible by the evidence provided in the application or the skilled person’s common general knowledge at the filing date.

Conclusion

Materials inventions involving AI can be patentable in Europe unless the invention is purely directed to using a known AI algorithm to straightforwardly improve or automate a known process. However, it is important to consider the role AI plays in the invention when drafting the application in order to formulate a suitable breadth of claim and provide suitable evidence for the purposes of sufficiency and inventive step in Europe.

能量——与产生太阳能量来源的反应 相同。

在地球上，核聚变是在一种被称为“ 托卡马克”的环形真空室中进行的， 托卡马克使用强大的磁铁来控制含有 氢同位素（氘和氚）的热等离子体。

当等离子体被加热时，原子核融合在 一起，形成氦和中子，同时在此过程 中释放能量。释放的能量可用于加热 水，也可以驱动涡轮机发电。

2022 年 2 月，位于英国卡勒姆聚变能 源中心的 JET（“欧洲联合环”）实验 室宣布，他们的托卡马克创造了从核 聚变反应中提取能量的新世界纪录，

五秒钟内产生了 59 兆焦耳的能量。听 起来可能并不多，但却是未来设计可 行核聚变发电厂的重要一步。

托卡马克所需的条件包括极高的温度 和磁场。此外，反应释放的高能中子 会对反应堆材料造成辐照损伤。那么 这些反应堆背后的哪些材料能够让我 们在地球上实现这些极端条件呢？

为了弄清楚这个问题，我们查看了涵 盖该主题的专利。在过去，核研究（ 聚变和裂变）是政府机构的事。但现 在，越来越多的私营公司也开始投资 核研究。随着下一代反应堆开发在商

Materials for Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion has long been heralded as a safe, efficient, low-carbon source of energy, which uses starting materials which are abundant on Earth. In nuclear fusion, light nuclei are fused to form a heavier nucleus, releasing energy – in the same reaction as is used to power the Sun.

On Earth, one way to perform nuclear fusion is in a doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber known as a “tokamak”, where powerful magnets are used to contain a hot plasma containing hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium). When the plasma is heated, the nuclei fuse together to form helium and a neutron and release energy in the process. The released energy can be used to heat water and power turbines to generate electricity.

In February 2022, the JET (“Joint European Torus”) laboratory located at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in the UK announced that their tokamak had set a new world record for the amount of energy extracted from a nuclear fusion reaction, producing 59 megajoules of energy over a five second period. This may not sound like much, but it is an important step in the journey to designing a viable nuclear fusion power plant for the future.

The conditions required in the tokamak involve very high temperatures and magnetic fields. Furthermore, the release of high-energy neutrons from the reaction can cause radiation damage to the reactor materials. So what are the materials behind these reactors which allow us to achieve these extreme conditions here on Earth?

To answer this question, we have looked at patents covering this topic. Nuclear research (fusion and fission) was historically the domain of governmental bodies. However, there is a growing number of private companies also investing in nuclear research. With a more commercial focus on developing the next generation of reactors, private companies and public bodies are increasingly also seeking to protect their research outputs by way of patent protection. One way to find out what research is being undertaken, which we have done for this article, is to look at the patent landscape, as patent documents are technical disclosures that describe inventions.

子能委员会 (CEA) 于 2012 年申请获 得，它描述了第一壁组成，带有一个 由铜合金组件、中间铌层和直接与铌 层接触的铍元素组成的堆垛。该组成 还包含在一个位于铌层和铜合金元素 之间的应力降低层，该应力降低层由 铜或镍构成。这种安排是为了改进热 疲劳行为，同时避免金属间化合物对 结构中的机械应力产生限制。 WO2021110969 专利由 Tokamak Energy Ltd 申请获得，它描述了一种托卡马克

First Wall

At the heart of a tokamak, the plasma is heated to temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius. Although the magnetic fields are arranged to keep this hot plasma away from the walls of the tokamak, sometimes the plasma does touch the walls. Some designs of the first wall, which is the innermost wall, focus on withstanding plasma impact without damage or contaminating the plasma. Originally, carbon inner walls were employed. However, since 2009/2010, the first wall of the JET tokamak has been made of beryllium and tungsten tiles, which do not contaminate the plasma as much as carbon. Moreover, developments in the design of the first wall components are continually being made, and inventions are being protected by patents.

EP2740125A , filed in 2012 by The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), describes a first wall component provided with a stack comprising a copper alloy component, an intermediate niobium layer, and a beryllium element directly in contact with the niobium layer. The component further comprises a stressreducing layer between the niobium layer and the copper alloy element, the stressreducing layer being formed from copper or nickel. This arrangement is described as providing improved thermal fatigue behavior, and avoiding the presence of intermetallic compounds limits the mechanical stresses in the structure.

WO2021110969, filed by Tokamak Energy Ltd, describes a first wall structure for a tokamak, as shown in Figure 1 below. The structure comprises an inner wall 201 formed from a refractory metal or alloy (such as beryllium or tungsten as described above), having pores which provide a passage through the inner wall. Upon an outer side of the inner wall there is an additional material 202 deposited. The deposited material has a boiling point lower than the material of the first wall, and a melting point greater than the temperature of the first wall during normal operation. In this way, the deposited material is solid during general use of the plasma chamber and will boil before the inner wall metal melts.

In the case of an unstable event in the plasma chamber, a large amount of heat is

transferred to the inner wall, which is conducted through the inner wall, melting the deposited material. The molten material is forced out of the pores and forms a coating 305 on the inner surface of the inner wall, which may evaporate or boil due to the heat. During the melting and vaporization, latent heat is absorbed. The application states that this inhibits melting of the inner wall.

Figure 1: Image taken from WO2021110969 图 1：图片来自 WO2021110969

偏滤器

托卡马克上部和/或下部区域的偏滤器用

作排气装置，用于在操作期间以受控方式 去除热量和不需要的产物。在限制区域边 缘设计磁场的目的是，将等离子体杂质和 氦灰从反应器中转移出去。构成偏滤器的 材料与上述第一壁中的材料承受的应力不 同。JET 中的偏滤器由钨制成。

偏滤器的设计还在改进中。EP0280940专 利由 Euratom 申请获得，它描述了一种 偏滤器，该偏滤器配备了一个散热板，该 散热板上覆盖有一个离子保护层。离子保 护层的作用是，防止反应器中的离子流对 散热板产生影响。离子保护层包含由耐火 材料构成的多个平行纤维，这些纤维从散 热板伸出，并呈刷状排列，如图 2 所示。

Divertor

A divertor provided at the upper and/or lower region of the tokamak acts as an exhaust to allow the controlled removal of heat and unwanted products during operation. The magnetic field at the edge of the confinement region is designed so as to divert plasma impurities and helium ash away from the reactor. The material forming the divertor is subjected to different stresses than those in the first wall described above. In JET, the divertor is made from tungsten.

Improvements in the design of divertors are ongoing. EP0280940, filed by Euratom, describes a divertor having a heat dissipation plate and an ion protection layer covering the plate. The ion protection layer is described as protecting the plate from the ion flux in the reactor. The ion protection layer comprises a plurality of parallel fibres formed from a refractory material, the fibres forming a brush like arrangement which extends from the heat dissipation plate, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Image take from EPO280940 图 2：图片来自 EPO280940

EP3170181B1

使用。该中子屏蔽层包括包含粘合剂的 硬质合金或硼化物，以及包含碳化物或 硼化物化合物颗粒的集料。硬质合金或 硼化物的成分随厚度变化，因此屏蔽层 面向等离子体的一侧，比非面向等离子 体的一侧，中子吸收材料的含量要低。 该申请指出，在中子速度最慢的区域放 置的中子吸收材料更多，这样可以让吸 收料工作效率更高。

覆盖层

在聚变反应堆中，等离子体容器周围系 统（即覆盖层）的功能可以是一种，也 可以是两种——吸收中子的能量来加 热水，用于发电和/或产生用作反应堆 燃料的氚。氚可以通过中子与嵌在覆盖 层中的锂反应产生，这个过程被称为“ 培育”。氚是一种半衰期较短的放射性 同位素，因此想从外部获得十分困难， 而且价格高昂。在反应过程中培育氚燃 料，可以减少这类困难。

US2010150291专利由韩国原子能研究院 申请获得，它描述了一种锂纳米流体覆 盖层，该覆盖层由分散在液态锂中的金

, also filed by Tokamak Energy Ltd, describes a form of neutron shielding for a fusion reactor, which can be used in a divertor. The neutron shielding includes a cemented carbide or boride comprising a binder and an aggregate which comprises particles of a carbide or boride compound. The composition of the cemented carbide or boride varies through the thickness, such that a plasma facing side of the shielding comprises a lower proportion of neutron absorbing material than a non-plasma facing side. The application states that more of the neutron absorbing material is placed where the neutrons will be slowest and states that this results in the absorbers being more effective.

Blanket

In fusion reactors, the system surrounding the plasma vessel, the blanket, can have one or two functions – to absorb the energy of the neutron to heat water for electricity generation and/or to produce tritium for use as fuel in the reactor. The tritium is produced by the reaction of the neutron with lithium, which is embedded in the blanket, in a process referred to as “breeding”. Tritium is a radioactive isotope having a short half-life, and so is difficult and expensive to obtain from outside sources. By breeding tritium fuel during the reaction process, these difficulties are reduced.

In one design, described in US2010150291, filed by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, there is a lithium nanofluid blanket, comprising nanoparticles of a metal or metal oxide which are dispersed in liquid lithium. This arrangement is described as having the effect of reducing the reactivity with cooling water and increasing stability and reliability.

EP2668831A1, filed by Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC, describes a fusion chamber which is formed from a plurality of segments, each segment including a first wall and a blanket region behind the first wall, as shown in Figure 3. At least one of the segments has a compartment in the blanket region containing a high-temperature resistant material (such as tin or beryllium). The application describes that this material can be inserted into and removed from the blanket, to capture additional neutrons and control the thermal power output and rate of tritium breeding in the blanket.

Figure 3: Image taken from EP2668831A1 图 3：图片来自 EP2668831A1

这些只是聚变反应堆相关技术专利申请 的一小部分实例。事实上，自 2011

These are merely a handful of examples of patent applications being filed on technology relating to fusion reactors. Indeed, there have been over 3500 patent applications broadly relating to fusion reactors (as classified using the general G21B/ classification) filed worldwide since 2011. Therefore, it can be seen that there is a vast amount of research being carried out into all aspects of nuclear reactor materials and design. With the help of the inventions above, along with many others, we look forward to seeing even more progress towards a viable nuclear fusion power plant in the future.

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