Advanced smart tungsten alloys for a future fusion power plant

The severe particle, radiation and neutron environment in a future fusion power plant requires the development of advanced plasma-facing materials. At the same time, the highest level of safety needs to be ensured. The so-called loss-of-coolant accident combined with air ingress in the vacuum vessel represents a severe safety challenge. In the absence of a coolant the temperature of the tungsten first wall may reach 1200 °C. At such a temperature, the neutron-activated radioactive tungsten forms volatile oxide which can be mobilized into atmosphere. Smart tungsten alloys are being developed to address this safety issue. Smart alloys should combine an acceptable plasma performance with the suppressed oxidation during an accident. New thin film tungsten–chromium–yttrium smart alloys feature an impressive 10⁵ fold suppression of oxidation compared to that of pure tungsten at temperatures of up to 1000 °C. Oxidation behavior at temperatures up to 1200 °C, and reactivity of alloys in humid atmosphere along with a manufacturing of reactor-relevant bulk samples, impose an additional challenge in smart alloy development. First exposures of smart alloys in steady-state deuterium plasma were made. Smart tungsten–chroimium–titanium alloys demonstrated a sputtering resistance which is similar to that of pure tungsten. Expected preferential sputtering of alloying elements by plasma ions was confirmed experimentally. The subsequent isothermal oxidation of exposed samples did not reveal any influence of plasma exposure on the passivation of alloys. (paper)