NC State, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and JEOL put full-size 3D-printed tungsten tiles into a U.S. fusion facility
RALEIGH, N.C. (October 22, 2026): A team from North Carolina State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and JEOL Ltd. has 3D printed full-size tungsten tiles for the inside wall of a fusion device, finished them to tight tolerances and tested them in the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego. The tile surfaces were directly exposed to 74 plasma discharges with significant heat and particle flux, and came through intact.
The project went from ...