Suppression of blister formation and deuterium retention on tungsten surface due to mechanical polishing and helium pre-exposure

Abstract

Low-energy deuterium (D) plasma exposure on tungsten (W), which is an important material for ITER, results in blister formation on the surface. Blister formation increases both micron-sized dust production and D retention. Blister formation depends greatly on surface pre-treatment. Deuterium plasma exposure on mirror-finished powder metallurgy W at 500 K for 3 h forms a blister with a diameter of a few hundred micrometres on the surface. Blister formations on the mechanically-polished and helium-pre-exposed surfaces are drastically suppressed. Deuterium retention is also reduced on both the mechanically-polished surface and the helium-pre-exposed surface compared with that on the mirror-finished surface. The suppressive effect of blister formation on the mechanically-polished surface is maintained for 50 h. The size of blisters and D retention on mirror-finished surface exposed for 50 h increases by some degrees (≲500 µm, 7 × 1020 m−2) compared with that on mirror-finished surface exposed for 3 h (≲200 µm, 5 × 1020 m−2), but is not proportional to the exposure time. The saturation level of D retention even on blister-rich surfaces seems to be lower than an order of 1021 D2 m−2.