Current status of nanostructured tungsten-based materials development

Surface morphology changes and deuterium retention in Toughened, Fine-grained Recrystallized Tungsten under high-flux irradiation conditions

“…W-TaC samples (grain size $1 lm [2]) were fabricated at Tohoku University. During the manufacturing process, small amounts of tantalum carbide (TaC) were added for grain boundary strengthening [2]. All samples were annealed at 1573 K for 1 h in vacuum before mechanical polishing.…”

“…In order to improve its mechanical properties, a variety of advanced tungsten materials are being presently developed and characterized. One such W material is Toughened, Fine-Grained Recrystallized Tungsten (TFGR W) developed at Tohoku University [2]. During the manufacturing process, small amounts of titanium carbide (TiC) or tantalum carbide (TaC) were added for grain boundary strengthening.…”

“…During the manufacturing process, small amounts of titanium carbide (TiC) or tantalum carbide (TaC) were added for grain boundary strengthening. TFGR-W has shown improved low-temperature ductility and resistance against neutron embrittlement compared to pure W materials [2,3]. However, for TFGR-W to be used as a PFM, its tritium retention behavior under fusion relevant plasma exposure conditions needs to be characterized.…”

Mechanical properties and thermal stability of rolled W-0.5wt% TiC alloys

“…Formation of TiO 2 particles is probably attributed to TiC particles capturing impurity oxygen in tungsten during sintering process. Although this purifying strategy can reduce impurity oxygen concentration at grain boundaries, low melting temperature oxides have negative influences on thermal stability and grain strength [23]. Therefore, amounts of oxygen impurities should be well controlled to the levels that do not essentially affect the thermal and mechanical performances.…”

“…It is reported that W-1.1%TiC alloys with ultrafine grains fabricated by super plastic deformation exhibit very high fracture strength and appreciable flexure ductility at room temperature (RT) [21,22]. But these W-TiC alloys fabricated by complicated process are hard to be used as PFMs or diverters because of high cost and limited scales [23,24]. Furthermore, the effects of TiC particles addition on recrystallization characteristics are barely reported.…”