Recent research and development of thick CVD tungsten coatings for fusion application

As the interface closest to the edge plasma of a fusion reactor reacting deuterium(D)and tritium(T),plasma-facing material(PFM)need to withstand extreme service conditions with the high particle flux,high heat load,and neutrons with energy up to 14.1 MeV.Tungsten(W)is the primary candidate of PFMs in future fusion reactors due to its high melting point,good thermal conductivity,excellent irradiation resistance,and low hydrogen/helium retention.So far,powder metallurgy is a leading route for the preparation of W-based PFM.An alternative approach could be the coating technique,which has advantages on fabricating W PFMs and plasma-facing component(PFC)simultaneously.In the past several years,inspiring results were achieved in the preparation process and performance evaluation of the W coating with high purity,excellent thermal conductivity,and thickness at the millimeter level by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition(APCVD).No obvious grain growth and hardness decrease were observed when the annealing temperature was lower than 1500°C,indicating its good thermal stability.The as-deposited coating exhibited a comparable thermal shock resistance with the conventional W bulk.While the polished sample showed a high crack threshold(0.33-0.44 GW·m^(−2))when exposed to edge localized mode like transient at room temperature,compared to the unpolished counterpart.Irradiation performance of the chemical vapor deposition(CVD)-W exposed to deuterium(D)plasma and fission neutron were also evaluated.Additionally,the practicality of preparation of large-scale W-based PFM by this technique is also demonstrated.This paper gives a short overview on the recent research and development status of the thick W coating prepared by APCVD at Xiamen Tungsten Co.,Ltd and Southwestern Institute of Physics for using as PFM and PFC in fusion devices.

Surface morphology and crystal orientation of electrodeposited tungsten coatings with different pulse parameters

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of pulse parameters on the surface morphology and crystal orientation of the tungsten coatings electrodeposited on pure copper substrates. The deposited coatings were analyzed by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy-dispersive spectrometer （EDS）. SEM analysis indicates that pulse parameters have significant influences on the surface morphology of the deposited coatings. Meanwhile, the change in grain size of the tungsten coatings demonstrates that the change in frequency and duty cycle could cause the variation of nucleation rate and grain growth of deposits. Moreover, no obvious diffusion layer at the coating/substrate interface is found by line analysis of EDS. XRD results reveal that tungsten coatings are of bcc structure and the preferred orientation of the deposits varies with duty cycle and period.

Erosion and Modifications of Tungsten-Coated Carbon and Copper Under High Heat Flux

Tungsten-coated carbon and copper was prepared by vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) and inert gas plasma spraying (IPS), respectively. W/CFC (Tungsten /Carbon Fiber-Enhanced material) coating has a diffusion barrier that consists of W and Re multi-layers pre-deposited by physical vapor deposition on carbon fiber-enhanced materials, while W/Cu coating has a graded transition interface. Different grain growth processes of tungsten coatings under stable and transient heat loads were observed, their experimental results indicated that the recrystallizing temperature of VPS-W coating was about 1400 ℃ and a recrystallized columnar layer of about 30 μm thickness was formed by cyclic heat loads of 4 ms pulse duration. Erosion and modifications of W/CFC and W/Cu coatings under high heat load, such as microstructure changes of interface, surface plastic deformations and cracks, were investigated, and the erosion mechanism (erosion products) of these two kinds of tungsten coatings under high heat flux was also studied.

Thermal Performance Study of VPS-W Coatings on CuCrZr Under High Heat Flux

Three tungsten coatings with a thickness of 250 μm, 600μm and 220 μm, respectively, were deposited on a CuCrZr substrate by the vacuum plasma spraying technology. In order to study the thermal performance of the coatings, heat load limit, thermal fatigue lifetime and thermal response tests were performed by means of the electron beam irradiation with a heat flux from 0 MW/m^2 to 10 MW/m^2. Experimental results indicated that tungsten coatings on CuCrZr with a titanium or tungsten/copper interlayer could expel heat flux timely and had good thermal fatigue properties, titanium was a promising compliant layer which provided a reliable way to join tungsten onto the CuCrZr heat sink, even suffering from a heat flux of 10 MW/m^2 or withstanding 54 cycles of fatigue tests under 5 MW/m^2. However, the better quality of tungsten coating itself was necessary because its surface temperature was higher than that of the sample with a tungsten/copper interlayer.

Thermal Spray Coating of Tungsten for Tokamak Device

Thermal spray, such as direct current （d.c.） plasma spray or radio frequency induced plasma spray, was used to deposit tungsten coatings on the copper electrodes of a tokamak device. The tungsten coating on the outer surface of one copper electrode was formed directly through d.c. plasma spraying of fine tungsten powder. The tungsten coating/lining on the inner surface of another copper electrode could be formed indirectly through induced plasma spraying of coarse tungsten powder. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM） was used to examine the cross section and the interface of the tungsten coating. Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-ray （EDAX） was used to analyze the metallic elements attached to a separated interface. The influence of the particle size of the tungsten powder on the density, cracking behavior and adhesion of the coating is discussed. It is found that the coarse tungsten powder with the particle size of 45-75μm can be melted and the coating can be formed only by using induced plasma. The coating deposited from the coarse powder has much higher cohesive strength, adhesive strength and crack resistance than the coating made from the fine powder with a particle size of 5μm.

Progress in Fusion Technologies and Materials Researches

Fusion technologies and materials researches made progress in the major three aspects in 2006, specially implemented the ITER agreement tasks of first wall （FW） plate fabrication qualification and shield bulk thermal-hydraulic analysis and design, studied on low activation fusion structure materials and High Z plasma facing materials, experimentally investigated on liquid metal blanket magneto-hydrodynamics effects and so on.