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Microstructural Effects of Y2O3 and TiC Additions in Tungsten

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Abstract

Tungsten is a prime candidate for plasma facing materials (PFM) of internal components in fusion reactors due to its high thermal conductivity, high melting point and low sputtering yield. However, the brittleness of W at low temperature and the embrittlement caused by recrystallization and irradiation is a concern for this application of W engineering. To improve the properties, a modified W by the addition of a dispersion agent is introduced. The existence of dispersoids such as oxides (Y2O3, La2O3) or carbides (TiC, ZrC, HfC, Ta2C) helps to improve the mechanical properties and migration of grain boundaries therefore suppressing the embrittlement. In this work, three types of dispersion modified W are processed: W–Y2O3, W–TiC and W–TiC–Y2O3. The materials are fabricated with novel wet chemical method followed by consolidation through spark plasma sintering (SPS). The microhardness and microstructure are studied in this work. Dispersoids’density, size, distribution, crystal structure as well as composition are also investigated. A range of characterization techniques is applied, including metallography microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grand No. PA2020GDSK0089), and also was kindly supported by Prof. Wang from Taiyuan Technology University, Prof. Liu from Beijing Normal university, Prof. Wan and Prof. Han from University of Science & Technology Beijing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic Science and Applied Physics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Zhisheng Yan, Yina Huang & Lukas A. Saul

  2. Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Devices of Anhui Province, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Zhisheng Yan, Yina Huang & Yucheng Wu

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yucheng Wu, Laima Luo & Gang Yao

  4. National Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Nonferrous Metals and Processing Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Yina Huang & Yucheng Wu

  5. Lab of Correlated Electron System and Spintronic Devices, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China

    Zhisheng Yan & Yina Huang

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  1. Zhisheng Yan
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  2. Yina Huang
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Correspondence to Yina Huang.

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Yan, Z., Huang, Y., Wu, Y. et al. Microstructural Effects of Y2O3 and TiC Additions in Tungsten. J Fusion Energ 40, 9 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-021-00295-4

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