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Tungsten–potassium: a promising plasma-facing material

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Abstract

Tungsten–potassium (potassium-doped tungsten or WK), initially known from the electric filament industry, is a promising plasma-facing material (PFM) in future fusion facilities like International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). However, the brittle nature of W and irradiation-induced defects of WK materials may result in a risk of deuterium–tritium reaction failure in fusion reactors. Previous studies revealed that advanced W with ultrafine grains and nanostructures might be able to address these problems. However, K-doped W, a rapidly developed material for PFMs, lacks a systematical summary. In this review, we firstly describe the powder metallurgy and plastic deformation for the preparation of WK. Then, the mechanical properties of WK and thermal shock resistance results are reviewed. Important issues such as irradiation damages from neutron, heavy ion, and plasma (H isotope or He) irradiation are also discussed. Hitherto, WK under irradiations shows comparable or even better performances compared with other counterparts such as ITER grade pure tungsten. This review could be benefitial to the future efforts of improving the ductility and irradiation tolerance of WK materials.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11775149 and 11475118).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Radiation Physics and Technology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Xiaoliang Yang, Wenbin Qiu, Longqing Chen & Jun Tang

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  1. Xiaoliang Yang
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Yang, X., Qiu, W., Chen, L. et al. Tungsten–potassium: a promising plasma-facing material. Tungsten 1, 141–158 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42864-019-00018-5

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