Microstructural evolution in pure and ZrC strengthened tungsten under ion irradiation at 600°C

The microstructural evolution in ultra-fine grain (UFG) tungsten reinforced with ZrC particles under ion irradiation was investigated by transmission electron microscopy and compared to the effect of ion irradiation in reference ITER specification tungsten. Here, we report the evolution of the micro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nuclear materials 2021-02, Vol.544, p.152710, Article 152710
Main Authors: Van Renterghem, Wouter, Terentyev, Dmitry, Balaji, Shanmugam, David, Christopher, Dubinko, Andrii, Yin, Chao, Zhang, Tao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crystal defects
Dislocation loops
End of life
Evolution
fusion
Heat treating
Heavy ions
Ion irradiation
Irradiation
Microstructure
Neutron irradiation
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear power plants
Radiation damage
Radiation dosage
Transmission electron microscopy
Tungsten
Zirconium carbide
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Summary:The microstructural evolution in ultra-fine grain (UFG) tungsten reinforced with ZrC particles under ion irradiation was investigated by transmission electron microscopy and compared to the effect of ion irradiation in reference ITER specification tungsten. Here, we report the evolution of the microstructure under heavy ion irradiation to mimic the neutron irradiation damage taking place in a nuclear fusion environment. The irradiation was performed with 9.1 MeV gold ions at 600°C to reach the end-of-life irradiation dose in ITER and DEMO divertor (i.e. 1 and 5 dpa). The microstructure is investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the ion induced defect structure does not deviate significantly from the reference tungsten. The main defects are a/2 type dislocation loops and nano-metric voids. The defect concentration is already saturated at 1 dpa and the higher irradiation damage was not found to have a significant effect on the defect concentration.
ISSN:0022-3115
1873-4820
DOI:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152710