Tensile strength of surface nanofibers in tungsten

Recent studies carried out in linear plasma devices and tokamaks, have shown that low-energy He bombardment causes the creation of the nanofiber structure that leads to increased radiation erosion and material failure. One of the key characteristics of nanofibers is their mechanical strength. In this paper, a new mathematical technique was used for determination of the inherent tensile strength of nanofibers. The configuration of nanofibers was modeled by equipotential cylindrical surfaces. The potential distribution and mechanical stresses induced by high electric field were determined. An elaborated formalism was used to obtain the ultimate strength of tungsten nanofibers. The mean value of the tensile strength of tungsten nanofibers is equal to 27.52 GPa. This value is a substantial part of the theoretical tensile strength of tungsten.