Lehigh University researchers, using Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise, have made significant strides in understanding the stability challenges of nuclear fusion, bringing the dream of limitless clean energy one step closer.
Lehigh University scientists are breaking new ground in the quest for nuclear fusion energy, and their unlikely ally in this endeavor is Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise. Led by Arindam Banerjee, the Paul B. Reinhold Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, the research team is examining the stability of fusion capsules — critical for harnessing the power of nuclear fusion.
“We’re still working on the same problem, which is the structural integrity of fusion capsules used in inertial confinement fusion, and Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise is still helping us in the search for solutions,” Banerjee said in a news release.
Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun, promises a nearly limitless and clean energy source if replicated on Earth. However, achieving the extreme conditions required — millions of degrees Kelvin and gigapascals of pressure — is a formidable challenge. This effort to replicate the sun’s extreme conditions makes stable plasma confinement a crucial aspect of fusion research.
In inertial confinement fusion (ICF), nuclear reactions are initiated by rapidly compressing and heating capsules filled with hydrogen isotopes. However, these capsules often fall victim to hydrodynamic instabilities, reducing energy yield. This is where Hellmann’s Mayonnaise plays its role.
Banerjee’s team previously investigated Rayleigh-Taylor instability, a major issue in ICF, where a denser fluid pushes against a lighter one under acceleration, forming an unstable interface. Remarkably, mayonnaise, which behaves like a solid but flows under pressure, provided a simpler, more accessible medium to study these instabilities.
“We use mayonnaise because it behaves like a solid, but when subjected to a pressure gradient, it starts to flow,” added Banerjee.
Using a custom-built rotating wheel facility, Banerjee’s team simulated the flow conditions of plasma. They observed that mayonnaise transitions through elastic, plastic and fluid phases under stress, analogous to the behavior of fusion capsules.
The recent study published in Physical Review E by Banerjee’s team, including first author Aren Boyaci, now a data modeling engineer at Rattunde AG in Germany, delved deeper into these transitions. They focused on material properties, perturbation geometry and acceleration rates affecting Rayleigh-Taylor instability.
“We investigated the transition criteria between the phases of Rayleigh-Taylor instability and examined how that affected the perturbation growth in the following phases,” Boyaci said in the news release. “We found the conditions under which the elastic recovery was possible and how it could be maximized to delay or completely suppress the instability. The experimental data we present are also the first recovery measurements in the literature.”
This discovery could pave the way for designing fusion capsules that remain stable under extreme conditions, a significant step towards making fusion energy feasible.
With the goal of enhancing the predictability of plasma behavior, Banerjee’s team applied a non-dimensional approach to their data, aiming to transcend the differences in properties between their experimental soft solids and actual fusion capsules.
“We’re trying to enhance the predictability of what would happen with those molten, high-temperature, high-pressure plasma capsules with these analog experiments of using mayonnaise in a rotating wheel,” Banerjee added.
Ultimately, Banerjee and his team are part of a global effort to turn the potential of fusion energy into a reality.
“We’re another cog in this giant wheel of researchers,” Banerjee said. “And we’re all working towards making inertial fusion cheaper and therefore, attainable.”