Effects of zirconium element on the microstructure and deuterium retention of W-Zr/Sc2O3 composites.
Dense W and W-Zr composites reinforced with Sc2O3 particles were produced through powder metallurgy and subsequent spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1700 °C and 58 MPa. Results showed that the W-1vol.%Zr/2vol.%Sc2O3 composites exhibited optimal performance with the best relative density of up to 98.93% and high Vickers microhardness of approximately 583 Hv. The thermal conductivity of W-Zr/Sc2O3 composites decreased initially and then increased as the Zr content increased. The moderate Zr alloying element could combine well with Sc2O3 particles and W grains and form a solid solution. However, excess Zr element leads to agglomeration in the grain boundaries. W-1vol.%Zr/2vol.%Sc2O3 composite had a good deuterium irradiation resistance very closing to pure tungsten compared with the other Zr element contents of composites. Under 500 K, D2 retention and release of them were similar to those of commercial tungsten, even lower between 400 K to 450 K. Pre-irradiation with 5 keV-He(+) ions to a fluence of 1 × 10(21) He(+)/m(2) resulted in an increase in deuterium retention (deuterium was implanted after He(+) irradiation), thereby shifting the desorption peak to a high temperature from 550 K to 650 K for the W-1vol.%Zr/2vol.%Sc2O3 composite.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.
Hongyu
H
Chen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.|National-Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Nonferrous Metals and Processing Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.
Laima
L
Luo
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.
Jingbo
J
Chen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.|National-Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Nonferrous Metals and Processing Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.
Xiang
X
Zan
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.|National-Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Nonferrous Metals and Processing Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.
Xiaoyong
X
Zhu
Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Osaka-fu 590-0494, Japan.
Qiu
Q
Xu
Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China.
Guangnan
G
Luo
Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China.
Junling
J
Chen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.|National-Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Nonferrous Metals and Processing Technology, Hefei 230009, People's Republic of China.
Yucheng
Y
Wu