Hydrocarbon deposition in gaps of tungsten and graphite tiles in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak edge plasma parameters

Abstract

The three-dimensional (3D) Monte Carlo code PIC-EDDY has been utilized to investigate the mechanism of hydrocarbon deposition in gaps of tungsten tiles in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), where the sheath potential is calculated by the 2D in space and 3D in velocity particle-in-cell method. The calculated results for graphite tiles using the same method are also presented for comparison. Calculation results show that the amount of carbon deposited in the gaps of carbon tiles is three times larger than that in the gaps of tungsten tiles when the carbon particles from re-erosion on the top surface of monoblocks are taken into account. However, the deposition amount is found to be larger in the gaps of tungsten tiles at the same CH4 flux. When chemical sputtering becomes significant as carbon coverage on tungsten increases with exposure time, the deposition inside the gaps of tungsten tiles would be considerable.