H.C. Starck develops high-purity tungsten powder for 3D-printed fusion reactor walls

H.C. Starck Tungsten in Goslar, Germany, has been tasked with developing specialized high-purity tungsten metal powder for 3D-printed inner-wall components of a first German fusion reactor. The work is part of the federal government's "Fusion 2040" research program. The company aims to produce powder suitable for additive manufacturing of plasma-facing armor tiles that must withstand extreme heat flux, neutron bombardment, and thermal cycling inside a fusion reactor.

The challenge is twofold: tungsten's high melting point (3,422°C) makes it ideal for the plasma-facing first wall, but its brittleness and the need to bond it reliably to the underlying steel structure require novel powder and process solutions. H.C. Starck's material development is a key enabling step for Germany's fusion roadmap. For the AM industry, this represents a niche but high-stakes application where material purity and process repeatability-not machine speed-are the primary value drivers. The practical implication: successful qualification of tungsten LPBF for fusion would open a new, government-funded demand vertical for refractory metal AM, but the qualification timeline is measured in years, not quarters.