Erosion properties of tungsten and WTa5 alloy exposed to repetitive QSPA plasma loads below melting threshold

Abstract

The damage of deformed double forged pure tungsten (W) and tungsten alloyed with 5 wt.% tantalum (WTa5) have been studied in experimental simulations of ITER-like transient events (surface heat load of 0.45 MJ/m² and the pulse duration of 0.25 ms) with quasi-stationary plasma accelerator QSPA Kh-50. The plasma exposures were performed for targets maintained at room temperature and preheated at 200 or 300°C. The large and fine cracks appeared in result of plasma impacts. The high number of repetitive plasma loads below the melting threshold led to the clear degradation of thermo-mechanical properties of the affected surface layers on tungsten. Comparative analysis of the cracks propagation to the bulk is presented for both W and WTa5 samples.