Mass flow facilitates tungsten blistering under 60 keV helium ion implantation

Gaseous ion implantation induces displacement damage and gaseous atom uptake in the target material and is widely adopted to simulate plasma–material interaction in fusion devices. Here we report an observation of tungsten blistering with large plastic deformation under 60 keV helium ion implantation at room temperature. The near-surface morphology and microstructure analyses suggest more than 50% plastic elongation and breakdown of lattice periodicity in the blister caps. We propose that collision cascades and high-concentration helium atoms not only greatly modify the tungsten microstructure, but also enhance mass flow in terms of point defect diffusion in blister caps. The mass flow ultimately aggravates the relaxation of stresses in the tungsten surface and facilitates tungsten blistering during high-energy gaseous ion implantation. We sketch out the blistering process and stress the vital importance of dynamic processes in the response of plasma-facing materials subjected to low-energy plasma penetration and high-energy neutron bombardment in fusion devices. (paper)