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Plasma processed tungsten for fusion reactor first-wall material
Citation
Vas, J. V., Pan, J. Q., Wang, N. L., Xu, J. H., Medwal, R., Mishra, M., Pae, J. Y., Matham, M. V., Lee, C. K. P., & Rawat, R. S. (2021). Plasma processed tungsten for fusion reactor first-wall material. Journal of Materials Science, 56(17), 10494-10509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-05917-y
Author
Vas, Joseph Vimal
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Pan, J. Q.
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Wang, N. L.
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Xu, J. H.
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Medwal, Rohit
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Mishra, Mayank
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Pae, Jian Yi
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Matham, Murukeshan Vadakke
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•
Abstract
Tungsten is one of the prime candidates for a first-wall material near the divertor area due to its high temperature strength, high thermal conductivity, low erosion rate and low tritium retention. The erosion resistance of tungsten to the edge plasmas and transient events are carefully investigated in a simulated fusion environment. Here, we use the dense plasma focus (DPF) device operated in a D2 as a source for pulsed fusion plasma. The tungsten (α-W) substrates with a preferential growth direction along (110) plane were used. These pristine-W samples were nanostructurized using a (i) low-temperature continuous nitrogen RF plasma system and (ii) coated with 60 nm tungsten film, using high-temperature argon plasma in a dense plasma focus (DPF) device. The low- temperature plasma treatment created mesh-like porous nanostructure on the surface of pristine-W with change in crystalline orientation to (200), while the DPF-based deposition resulted in a nanocrystal (30–50 nm) decorated surface with enhanced (200) orientation. The crack propagation and bubble formation during DPF D2 plasma exposure were significantly controlled by the surface modification of tungsten. The mesh-like structure was modified to form loosely bound spherical nanoparticles, while the nanocrystals remained tightly bound and grew in size with D2 plasma exposure. The better adhesion of the nanocrystals and controlled growth along the (200) direction resulted in least change in hardness measurements for the nanocrystal decorated samples. Thus, nanocrystal decoration of tungsten with a preferential growth direction of (200) can help reduce the fusion-induced damage in first-wall materials.
Publisher
Springer
Journal
Journal of Materials Science
Project
RS 6/18 RSR
Grant ID
MOE Academic Research Fund (MOE AcRF (Tier 2)) - Grant no.: 2017-T2-2-129
MOE Academic Research Fund (MOE AcRF (Tier 2)) - Grant no.: 2019-T2-1-058
Research Support for Senior Academic Administrators (RS-SAA)
Funding Agency
Ministry of Education, Singapore
National Institute of Education, Singapore