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Microstructure evolutions of the W–TiC composite conducted by dual-effects from thermal shock and He-ion irradiation

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 August 2021

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Abstract

Considering that tungsten (W) materials served as the plasma-facing material in the fusion reactor would be exposed to edge-localized modes (ELMs)-like thermal shock loading accompanied with He-ion irradiation, the W–TiC composite produced with a wet-chemical method was conducted by the dual effects from the laser beam thermal shock first and He-ion irradiation later in this work. The microstructure changes of the W–TiC composite before and after two tests were characterized by scanning electron microscopy or transmission electron microscopy. After the laser beam thermal shock test, there was an obvious interface on the exposed surface of the W–TiC composite. Several main cracks and melting areas could be found nearby the interface and center, respectively. Furthermore, a mixture of tungsten oxide and TiC was easy to aggregate and form into circle areas surrounding the melting area. The thermal shock tested that W–TiC composite was then subjected to the He-ion irradiation. The typical features of fuzz structures could be detected on the surface of the W–TiC composite apart from the center of the melting area. Notably, several nano-sized He bubbles deeply distributed at grain boundaries in the melting area, owing to the grain boundary functioning as the free path for He diffusion.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51574101), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Nos. PA2018GDQT0010, PA2019GDZC0096, JZ2019HGTA0040), the Foundation of Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Material and Processing Engineering of Anhui Province (15CZS08031), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (Grant Nos. 201904b11020034, 1908085ME115), the Foundation of Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Material and Processing Engineering of Anhui Province, the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, Devices of Anhui Province and Double First Class enhancing independent innovation and social service capabilities of Hefei University of Technology (Grant No. 45000-411104/011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yu-Fen Zhou, Xiao-Yue Tan, Lai-Ma Luo, Yue Xu, Xiang Zan, Xiao-Yong Zhu & Yu-Cheng Wu

  2. Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Material and Processing Engineering of Anhui Province, Hefei, 230009, China

    Lai-Ma Luo, Yue Xu, Xiang Zan, Xiao-Yong Zhu & Yu-Cheng Wu

  3. Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University, Osaka-fu, Kyoto, 590-0494, Japan

    Qiu Xu

  4. Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka, 816-8580, Japan

    Kazutoshi Tokunaga

  5. National-Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Nonferrous Metals and Processing Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yu-Cheng Wu

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  1. Yu-Fen Zhou
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Zhou, YF., Tan, XY., Luo, LM. et al. Microstructure evolutions of the W–TiC composite conducted by dual-effects from thermal shock and He-ion irradiation. Tungsten 1, 213–219 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42864-019-00023-8

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