Deuterium retention in tungsten and tungsten: tantalum alloys exposed to high-flux deuterium plasmas

A direct comparison of deuterium retention in samples of tungsten and two grades of tungsten-tantalum alloys-W-1% Ta and W-5% Ta, exposed to deuterium plasmas (ion flux similar to 10(24) m(-2) s(-1), ion energy at the biased target similar to 50 eV) at the plasma generator Pilot-PSI was performed using thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). No systematic difference in terms of total retention in tungsten and tungsten-tantalum was identified. The measured retention value for each grade did not deviate by more than 24% from the value averaged over the three grades exposed to the same conditions. No additional desorption peaks appeared in the TDS spectra of the W-Ta samples as compared with the W target, indicating that no additional kinds of traps are introduced by the alloying of W with Ta. In the course of the experiment the same samples were exposed to the same plasma conditions several times, and it is demonstrated that samples with the history of prior exposures yield an increase in deuterium retention of up to 130% under the investigated conditions compared with the samples that were not exposed before. We consider this as evidence that exposure of the considered materials to ions with energy below the displacement threshold generates additional traps for deuterium. The positions of the release peaks caused by these traps are similar for W and W-Ta, which indicates that the corresponding traps are of the same kind

Self-shielding of a plasma-exposed surface during extreme transient heatloads

The power deposition on a tungsten surface exposed to combined pulsed/continuous high power plasma is studied. A study of the correlation between the plasma parameters and the power deposition on the surface demonstrates the effect of particle recycling in the strongly coupled regime. Upon increasing the input power to the plasma source, the energy density to the target first increases then decreases. We suggest that the sudden outgassing of hydrogen particles from the target and their subsequent ionization causes this. This back-flow of neutrals impedes the power transfer to the target, providing a shielding of the metal surface from the intense plasma flux

Chemical erosion of different carbon composites under ITER-relevant plasma conditions

\u3cp\u3eWe have studied the chemical erosion of different carbon composites in Pilot-PSI at ITER-relevant hydrogen plasma fluxes (∼10\u3csup\u3e24\u3c/sup\u3e m \u3csup\u3e-2\u3c/sup\u3e s\u3csup\u3e-1\u3c/sup\u3e) and low electron temperatures (T\u3csub\u3ee\u3c/sub\u3e∼1 eV). Optical emission spectroscopy on the CH A-X band was used to characterize the chemical sputtering. Fine grain graphite (R 6650, SGL Carbon Group), ITER-reference carbon fiber composite material (SNECMA NB31 and NB41; Dunlop 3D), nano- and micro-crystalline diamond coatings on molybdenum and SiC (Silit® SKD Reaction-Bonded, Saint-Gobain Ceramics) were compared. The chemical sputtering was similar for the different composites under comparable plasma conditions, except for SiC, which produced a ten times lower rate. The CH emission was constant at electron temperatures T\u3csub\u3ee\u3c/sub\u3e>1 eV and ion fluxes ranging between 10\u3csup\u3e23\u3c/sup\u3e and 10\u3csup\u3e24\u3c/sup\u3e m\u3csup\u3e- 2\u3c/sup\u3e s\u3csup\u3e-1\u3c/sup\u3e, but decreased at lower temperatures. This decrease is possibly due to changes in the excitation of CH and not due to a change in the chemical erosion rate.\u3c/p\u3