Microstructure evolution and effect on deuterium retention in oxide dispersion strengthened tungsten during He+ irradiation

Oxide dispersion-strengthened materials W-1wt%Pr2O3 and W-1wt%La2O3 were synthesized by wet chemical method and spark plasma sintering. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis, XRD and Vickers microhardness measurements were conducted to characterize the samples. The irradiations were carried out with a 5 keV helium ion beam to fluences up to 5.0 × 1021 ions/m2 under 600 °C using the low-energy ion irradiation system. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study was performed to investigate the microstructural evolution in W-1wt%Pr2O3 and W-1wt%La2O3. At 1.0 × 1020 He+/m2, the average loops size of the W-1wt%Pr2O3 was 4.3 nm, much lower than W-1wt%La2O3 of 8.5 nm. However, helium bubbles were not observed throughout in both doped W materials. The effects of pre-irradiation with 1.0 × 1021 He+/m2 on trapping of injected deuterium in doped W was studied by thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS) technique using quadrupole mass spectrometer. Compared with the samples without He+ pre-irradiation, deuterium (D) retention of doped W materials increased after He+ irradiation, whose retention was unsaturated at the damage level of 1.0 × 1022D2+/m2. The present results implied that irradiation effect of He+ ions must be taken into account to evaluate the deuterium retention in fusion material applications.