Recent advances in characterising irradiation damage in tungsten for fusion power

Tungsten is the front-runner candidate for building the plasma-facing armour components for future fusion reactors. However, in-service irradiation by fusion-neutrons and helium will create lattice-defects in the material, compromising its properties and lifetime. Improving the component’s resilience to radiation damage and accurately predicting the lifetime of irradiated components is key for commercial feasibility of the reactor. For this purpose, understanding the creation and evolution of radiation damage is essential. This paper reviews recent advances in characterising radiation damage through experimental and modelling techniques. Tungsten-ion- and helium-ion-implantation are commonly used to mimic the damage created by neutron- and helium-irradiation respectively. Defects (> 1.5 nm) can be directly imaged using transmission electron microscopy while all defects (size-independent), may be indirectly probed by measuring lattice strains induced by them (using diffraction techniques; synchrotron X-rays or high-resolution electron-backscatter). Neutron-irradiation produces mainly ½〈111〉 prismatic loops. Loop-interaction and structural organisation evolves with changing implantation dose and temperature. Helium-irradiation, < 573 K, induces formation of small helium-vacancy clusters, which evolve into bubbles, blisters and “fuzz” structure with changing temperature and dose. Nano-indentation or micro-cantilever bending tests can be used to examine mechanical properties of ion-implanted layers. Both helium- and neutron-implantation defects induce increased hardening often followed by subsequent strain-softening and localised deformation. Such irradiation-induced alterations are detrimental to material ductility and long-term structural integrity of tungsten-based components. Development of physically-based material models that capture the physics of underlying irradiation-induced changes, inspire confidence of reliably using simulations to predict mechanical behaviour and in-service performance of irradiated engineering components in future.