kmergia | Fusion Technology Group (FTG)

Director of Research

+30 210 6503706

Dr K. Mergia is responsible for the Fusion Technology Programme of NCSRD and coordinator of the related activities of fifteen (15) researchers. She is supervisor of four PhD theses in the field of Fusion Materials. Member of the Fusion for Energy (F4E) governing board. Greek representative in the European Neutron Scattering Association, evaluator of the RADIATE project (access to ion beam centers), member of the editorial board of the Hellenic Neutron Association (HENA) newsletter.

Her research topics refer to fusion materials research, radiation damage, plasma facing materials and components, phase transformations and transport phenomena, ceramic-metal interactions, surface oxidization phenomena, material engineering (porosity, internal stresses, oxidation barriers, materials joining) and magnetic materials (FeCr alloys and steels, magnetic thin films, spin-glasses).

She has been scientific responsible and work-package leader for several European and IAEA projects and tasks of the European Fusion Programme. The total funding obtained for these projects was 4.5 M€ (2003-2020). Research areas of these projects are on fusion materials, materials for extreme environments and aerospace materials and components.

She has authored more than 80 publications in peer reviewed journals, more than 100 publications in conference proceedings and more than 100 scientific reports. She is acting as a referee in 12 journals. She has strong collaborative links with many eminent European Research Centres and Universities such as Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, UK, SCK CEN, Belgium, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, UKAEA, UK, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany, TECNALIA Research and Innovation, Spain, Technical University of Turin, Italy, Polish Academy of Science, Institute of Physics, Poland. These collaborative links have been materialized through common publications and research projects.

She has developed extensive laboratory facilities in the areas of a) structural characterization of materials from nano- to macro-scale (X-Ray diffractometer, X-Ray reflectometer, field emission scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer, X-Ray fluorescence spectrometer), b) mechanical properties (nano- and micro-depth sensing indenters, universal testing machine, impulse excitation apparatus), c) defects in materials (positron annihilation lifetime spectrometer), d) electrical properties of materials (electrical apparatus), e) sample fabrication and processing (magnetron sputtering apparatus, high temperature systems), and f) metallography (optical microscopes, polishers, electropolisher).

Publications

2025

Chatzikos, V., Savva, M. I., Vasilopoulou, T., Stamatelatos, I. E., Terentyev, D., Stankovskiy, A., Patronis, N., & Mergia, K. (2025). Experimental validation of transmutation products calculations in neutron irradiated tungsten. Fusion Engineering and Design, 215, 115012. doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2025.115012 [Accepted manuscript]

Velichko, E., Abele, H., Barlow, D. J., Benedetto, A., Deledda, S., van Eijck, L., Fernandez-Diaz, M. T., Janoschek, M., Karlsson, M., Lefmann, K., Malikova, N., Marques, M. P. M., Mergia, K., Pieper, J., Rønnow, H. M., Šaroun, J., Schneidewind, A., Schreiber, F., Temst, K., Wolff, M., Zając, W. & Zanatta, M. (2025). Rendering the European neutron research landscape. Scientific Reports, 15 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-025-88099-w [Accepted manuscript]

Kastania, A. S., Mouchtouris, S., Stai, E., Zeniou, A., Kokkoris, G., Constantoudis, V., Tsavalas, P., Mergia, K., Gogolides, E., & Tserepi, A. (2025). Plasma‐Induced Maskless Formation of Quasi‐Periodic Nanoripples on Polymeric Substrates. Advanced Engineering Materials, 27 (7). doi:10.1002/adem.202402729 [Accepted manuscript]

Papadakis, D., Manios, E., & Mergia, K. (2025). Post Neutron Irradiation Recovery and Recrystallization of ITER Grade Forged Tungsten Bar. Metals, 15 (2), 172. doi:10.3390/met15020172 [Accepted manuscript]

2024

Litaudon, X., Fantz, U., Villari, R., Toigo, V., Aumeunier, M. H., Autran, J. L., Batistoni, P., Belonohy, E., Bradnam, S., Cecchetto, M., Colangeli, A., Dacquait, F., Dal Bello, S., Dentan, M., De Pietri, M., Eriksson, J., Fabbri, M., Falchetto, G., Figini, L., Figueiredo, J., Flammini, D., Fonnesu, N., Frassinetti, L., Galdón-Quiroga, J., Garcia-Alia, R., Garcia-Munoz, M., Ghani, Z., Gonzalez-Martin, J., Grelier, E., Di Grazia, L., Grove, B., Grove, C.L., Gusarov, A., Heinemann, B. Hialmarsoon, A., Hyvärinen, O., Ioannou-Sougleridis, V., Jones, L., Kim, H.-T., Kłosowski, M., Kocan, M., Kos, B., Kos, L., Kotnik, D., Laszynska, E., Leichtle, D., Lengar, I., Leon-Gutierrez, E., López-Revelles, A.J., Loreti, S., Loughlin, M., Marcuzzi, D., Mcclements, K.G., Mariano, G., Mattei, M., Mergia, K., Mietelski, J., Mitteau, R., Moindjie, S., Munteanu, D., Naish, R., Noce, S., Packer, L.W., Pamela, S., Pampin, R., Pau, A., Peacock, A., Peluso, E., Peneliau, Y., Peric, Radulović, J., V., Ricci, D., Rimini, F., Sanchis-Sanchez, L., Sauvan, P., Savva, M.I., Serianni, G., Shand, C.R., Snicker, A., Snoj, L., Stamatelatos, I.E., Štancar, Ž., Terranova, N., Vasilopoulou, T., Vila, R., Waterhouse, J., Wimmer, C., Wünderlich, D., Žohar, A., EUROfusion Tokamak Exploitation Team, NBTF Team, & JET Contributors (2024). EUROfusion contributions to ITER nuclear operation. Nuclear Fusion, 64 (11), Article 112006. doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ad346e [Accepted manuscript]

Papadakis, D., & Mergia, K. (2024). The effect of microstructure on recovery and recrystallization after annealing of two neutron irradiated ITER specification tungsten. International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 121, 106657. doi:10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2024.106657 [Accepted manuscript]

Pantousa, S., London, A. J., Mergia, K., Ionescu, A., Manios, E., Tsavalas, P., Dellis, S., Kinane, C., Langridge, S., Caruana, A., Kentsch, U., & Messoloras, S. (2024). Chromium agglomeration induced by Fe+ ion irradiation of Fe-10at%Cr. Nuclear Materials and Energy, 39, 101680. doi:10.1016/j.nme.2024.101680 [Accepted manuscript]

2023

Α. Hakola, J. Likonen, C. Porosnicu, E. Alves, I. Bogdanovic Radovic, A. Lagogiannis, R. Mateus, K. Mergia, V. Nemanic, M. Panjan, C. Pardanaud, Z. Siketic, P. Tsavalas, Parametric dependencies in the formation and structure of co-deposited beryllium layers on the wall structures of fusion reactors, 49th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, EPS 2023 [Conference Proceedings Paper] [49th EPS Conference Contributions]

D. Papadakis, K. Mergia, E. Manios, V. Chatzikos, S. Dellis and S. Messoloras. (2023). Post Neutron Irradiation Annealing and Defect Evolution in Single Crystal Tungsten. Nuclear Materials and Energy 34, 101357. doi:10.1016/j.nme.2022.101357 [Accepted manuscript]

D. Papadakis, K. Mergia, E. Manios, V. Chatzikos, S. Dellis, D. Terentyev, G. Bonny, W. Van Renterghem, C.C. Chang and S. Messoloras. (2023). Defect evolution of neutron irradiated ITER grade tungsten after annealing. Fusion Engineering and Design 189, 113486 doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2023.113486 [Accepted manuscript]

M.I. Savva, S.C. Bradnam, T. Vasilopoulou, C.R. Nobs, K. Mergia, L.W. Packer, I.E. Stamatelatos and JET Contributors. (2023). Application of VERDI detectors for ITER materials activation product inventory characterization. Fusion Engineering and Design 191, 113559 doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2023.113559

S. Dellis, X. Xiao, D. Terentyev, E. Manios and K. Mergia. (2023). Hardening mechanisms of cold rolled tungsten plate after neutron irradiation: indentation and finite elements modelling. International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials, 111, 106096. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2022.106096 [Accepted manuscript]

2022

P. Tsavalas, A. Lagoyannis, K. Mergia, M. Axiotis, S. Harissopulos, G. Provatas, S. Fazinić, T. Tadić, A. Widdowson, M. Rubel and JET Contributors. (2022). Fuel retention and carbon deposition on beryllium marker tiles from JET tokamak main chamber limiters investigated by ion beam analysis. Nucl. Fusion, 62, 126070. DOI:10.1088/1741-4326/ac9cf0 [Accepted manuscript]

K. Mergia. (2022). Editorial: Mechanical Property Characterization and Radiation Resistant Design of Nuclear Structural Materials Under Ion Irradiation. Frontiers in Materials, 9, 921369. doi:10.3389/fmats.2022.921369 [URL]

V. Chatzikos, K. Mergia, G. Bonny, D. Terentyev, D. Papadakis, G.E. Pavlou, and S. Messoloras. (2022). Positron annihilation spectroscopy investigation of defects in neutron irradiated tungsten materials. International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 105, 105838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2022.105838 [Accepted manuscript]

S. Pantousa, K. Mergia, A. Ionescu, E. Manios, S. Dellis, C. Kinane, S. Langridge, A. Caruana, U. Kentsch, and S. Messoloras. (2022). Fe+ ion irradiation effects in Fe-10at%Cr films irradiated at 300 °C. Nuclear Materials and Energy. 30, 101147. doi:10.1016/j.nme.2022.101147 [Accepted manuscript]

Terentyev, D., Rieth, M., Pintsuk, G., Riesch, J., Von Muller, A., Antusch, S., Mergia, K., Gaganidze, E., Schneider, H. C., Wirtz, M., Nogami, S., Coenen, J., You, J.-H., Zinovev, A., & Van Renterghem, W. (2022). Recent progress in the assessment of irradiation effects for in-vessel fusion materials: Tungsten and copper alloys. Nuclear Fusion 62(2) https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ac4062 [] []

2021

Mergia, K., Chatzikos, V., Manios, E., Dellis, S., Papadakis, D., Terentyev, D., Bonny, G., Dubinko, A., Stamatelatos, I.E., and Messoloras, S. (2021). Evolution of microstructure in neutron irradiated cold rolled tungsten and its correlation with mechanical properties, Fusion Engineering and Design 172, 112784 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112784 [] []

Papadakis, D., Dellis, S., Chatzikos, V., Manios, E., Stamatelatos, I.E., Messoloras S. and Mergia K. (2021). Neutron irradiation effects in different tungsten microstructures, Physica Scripta https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896/ac1eb2 []

Papadakis, D., Dellis, S., Mergia, K., Terentyev, D., Bonny, G., Dubinko, A., Van Renterghem, W., Konstantinovic, M., and Messoloras, S. The competing effects of temperature and neutron irradiation on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ITER grade tungsten. Fusion Engineering and Design 168, 112608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2021.112608 [Preprint]