Nucleation mechanism of intra-granular blisters in tungsten exposed to hydrogen plasma

W. Q. Chen, X. Y. Wang (Corresponding author), K. L. Li, Y. N. Wang, T. W. Morgan, B. Xu, Y. L. Chiu (Corresponding author), W. Liu (Corresponding author)

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite being a subject of long-term research on fusion-reactor structural materials, the behaviour of hydrogen in tungsten under plasma exposure remains unclear. Here, the explicit transmission electron microscopy observations for recrystallised W after hydrogen plasma exposure are successfully obtained. These are the first observations to show the intra-granular blisters are located on the {100} planes. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm the hydrogen blister initiating at <100> dislocation core behaved similarly to those in experiment. We propose that the widely reported intra-granular hydrogen blisters are nucleated at the <100> edge dislocation core and develop along the (100) plane in tungsten.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)243-249
Number of pages7
JournalScripta Materialia
Volume187
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2020

Funding

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China under Contract No. 51971115, and the Tsinghua Scholarship for Overseas Graduate Studies. This work was performed within the framework of the EURO Fusion Consortium and received funding from the Euratom research and training programme (2014–2018 and 2019–2020) under grant agreement No. 633053 . The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. DIFFER is a partner of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC). Technical support from the Centre for Electron Microscopy of the University of Birmingham, U.K., is acknowledged. W. Q. Chen is grateful for valuable support with TEM and plasma-FIB techniques provided by Dr. Shanshan Si, Dr. Minshi Wang, and Dr. Xinyu Lu at the University of Birmingham, and for support with flash polishing supplied by Dr. Robin Schaeublin of ETHZ Switzerland. The assistance of Mr. Wangguo Guo at Beihang University is also gratefully acknowledged.

FundersFunder number
European Union's Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme633053
University of Birmingham
National Natural Science Foundation of China51971115
Beihang University

    Keywords

    • Blister
    • Hydrogen plasma
    • Nucleation mechanism
    • Tungsten

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