Deuterium retention in TiC and TaC doped tungsten under low-energy ion irradiation

Abstract

Deuterium retention in toughened, fine-grained, recrystallized tungsten-based materials doped either with titanium carbide or tantalum carbide was investigated. Samples were either irradiated by 200 eV D−1 ions to fluences in the range 1 × 1022–1 × 1024 D m−2 at a temperature of about 310 K or by 38 eV D−1 ions to fluences in the range 6 × 1022–6 × 1024 D m−2 at temperatures of 300 and 600 K. The deuterium inventory in the samples was examined by nuclear reaction analysis and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). At low irradiation temperatures, deuterium retention in both doped materials was comparable to retention in pure tungsten (both recrystallized and as-received), while the shapes of TDS spectra and their evolution with the fluence were different. Deuterium retention in both doped materials at 600 K and at the highest fluence was higher than that in both recrystallized and as-received pure tungsten, and this can be attributed to the carbide precipitates.