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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Study of plasma induced nanostructure formation and surface morphology changes on tungsten and stainless steel at atmospheric pressure

The formation of nanostructures such as “fuzz,” holes, and flakes was observed on tungsten and stainless steel anodes in a 1 atm glow discharge with helium as the feed gas. The structures exhibited morphology similar to the tungsten fuzz growth observed in experiments that simulate wall conditions in fusion reactors, suggesting that similar physics may be present in both scenarios. The anode surface temperature ranged between 1000 and 1300 K with an ion fluence rate of order 10 24 s -1 m -2 . In this work, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope were used to characterize the evolution of nanostructure formation as a function of time. Observed nanostructures were found to vary with the morphology of the discharge plasma attachment. The composition of the structures was found to be predominantly the native metal by using energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. This work gives some insight into the formation of nanostructures at atmospheric pressure, which not only has applications for material processing, but also provides potentially another avenue to study fuzz formation processes relevant to fusion plasma-wall interactions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Interfaces enhanced plasma irradiation resistance in CrMoTaWV/W multilayer films through blocking He diffusion

The performance of plasma-facing materials (PFMs) is one of the key factors that significantly impact the stability of operation in fusion reactors. Herein, a new CrMoTaWV/W (high entropy alloy (HEA)/W) multilayer structure is designed as PFM to investigate its resistance to He plasma irradiation. It was observed that the introduction of the interfaces effectively absorbed plenty of He atoms, preventing them from diffusing into the material and delaying the formation of fuzz incubation zone, therefore, enhancing the resistance to plasma irradiation. The thickness transformed to fuzz in the HEA/W multilayer films was observed to be about two-thirds of those in the CrMoTaWV (HEA) film. Additionally, the fuzz growth rates in HEA/W multilayer films are lower than the average growth rate of bulk W and HEA films combined. These findings highlight a promising new avenue for the exploration of high-performance PFMs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1982

Further morphological studies of QSOs

Results are presented of optical mapping of 29 QSOs, together with results of VLA observations of 16 of the optically observed objects. Principal results are that QSOs to z = 0.45 have extended nebulosity, the average ratio of nuclear to fuzz luminosity, corrected for resolution, is about 0.5, some 8 times higher than Seyfert I values, the average fuzz luminosity is -21.5, fainter than giant ellipticals, and fuzz morphology does not resemble E or S galaxies, but is very similar to Seyfert I's to similar luminosity limits. In some cases, indications of spiral structure are seen, and a large fraction of asymmetrical morphology is noted. In the QSO 0241 + 622, steep spectrum radio emission is found displaced from the central source exactly along the minor optical axis.

Hutchings, J. B.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evidence for a High Temperature Whisker Growth Mechanism Active in Tungsten during In Situ Nanopillar Compression

A series of nanopillar compression tests were performed on tungsten as a function of temperature using in situ transmission electron microscopy with localized laser heating. Surface oxidation was observed to form on the pillars and grow in thickness with increasing temperature. Deformation between 850 °C and 1120 °C is facilitated by long-range diffusional transport from the tungsten pillar onto adjacent regions of the Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 indenter. The constraint imposed by the surface oxidation is hypothesized to underly this mechanism for localized plasticity, which is generally the so-called whisker growth mechanism. The results are discussed in context of the tungsten fuzz growth mechanism in He plasma-facing environments. The two processes exhibit similar morphological features and the conditions under which fuzz evolves appear to satisfy the conditions necessary to induce whisker growth.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Enhanced resistance to helium irradiations through unusual interaction between high-entropy-alloy and helium

Finding high performance plasma-facing materials (PFMs) is one of the most important and challenging tasks for realizing the commercial application of fusion reactors. Herein, we found the CrMoTaWV high entropy alloy (HEA) is highly resistant to low-energy and high-flux He plasma exposure. The nanochannel HEA film has 20 times higher initial fluence for the formation of fuzz and a remarkable 8.9 times slower fuzz growth rate than those of W. Combining the in-situ TEM observation and the Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the He bubble growth process, a new mechanism for the enhanced radiation resistance in HEA with the unusual interaction between HEA and He is found, where, differing from traditional metal, bubble growth in HEA leads to non-directional emission of interstitial atoms while HEA greatly suppress the growth of He bubbles. Additionally, the special nanochannel structure further rise the radiation resistance through releasing He out of the HEA film and reducing the He concentration. This new nanochannel refractory HEA material presents a promising choice as the PFMs with excellent performance and a much longer serving lifetime for future commercial fusion reactors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hole formation effect on surface morphological response of plasma-facing tungsten

We report simulation results on the effect of helium (He) bubble bursting-mediated surface hole formation on the surface morphological response of tungsten plasma-facing components (PFCs) in nuclear fusion devices. Our analysis is based on an atomistically informed, continuum-scale model, which is capable of accessing the spatiotemporal scales relevant to the fuzz nanostructure formation process on the surface of PFC tungsten. Our simulations account, in an empirical fashion, for two types of subsurface bubble dynamical phenomena in the nanobubble region of PFC tungsten during He plasma irradiation, involving bubble bursting and surface crater formation. We demonstrate that the hole formation effect on the PFC tungsten surface accelerates the growth rate of nanotendrils and the onset of fuzz formation. As a result, the predicted incubation time for surface nanotendril growth is shortened, in agreement with experimental data of incubation fluence at comparable plasma exposure conditions. We also explore systematically the dependence of the PFC surface morphological response on the areal density of holes introduced at regular time intervals onto the He-implanted tungsten surface, a parameter in our analysis that serves as a proxy for the rate of He bubble bursting. More importantly, our simulations capture fine surface features in the PFC tungsten surface morphology and predict that the average spacing between nanotendrils is on the order of 100 nm, consistent with the experimental findings.

Chen, Chao-Shou (ORCID:0000000307910042)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Deciphering the influence of high-flux helium plasma exposure on tungsten nanostructure growth using real-time, in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry

In situ analysis of surfaces during high-flux plasma exposure represents a long-standing challenge in the study of plasma–material interactions. While post-mortem microscopy can provide a detailed picture of structural and compositional changes, in situ techniques can capture the dynamic evolution of the surface. In this study, we demonstrate how spectroscopic ellipsometry can be applied to the real-time characterization of W nanostructure (also known as “fuzz”) growth during exposure to low temperature, high-flux He plasmas. Strikingly, over a wide range of sample temperatures and helium fluences, the measured ellipsometric parameters (Ψ,Δ) collapse onto a single curve that can be directly correlated with surface morphologies characterized by ex situ helium ion microscopy. The initial variation in the (Ψ,Δ) parameters appears to be governed by small changes in surface roughness (<50 nm) produced by helium bubble nucleation and growth, followed by the emergence of 50 nm diameter W tendrils. This basic behavior appears to be reproducible over a wide parameter space, indicating that the spectroscopic ellipsometry may be of general practical use as a diagnostic to study surface morphologies produced by high-flux He implantation in refractory metals. An advantage of the methods outlined here is that they are applicable at low incident ion energies, even below the sputtering threshold. As an example of this application, we apply in situ ellipsometry to examine how W fuzz growth is affected both by varying ion energy and the temperature of the surface.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Continuum-scale modeling of helium bubble bursting under plasma-exposed tungsten surfaces

We present a comparison between a continuum-scale drift-diffusion-reaction cluster dynamics prediction of helium retention in low-energy helium plasma exposed tungsten and experimental measurements, in a temperature regime that did not produce tungsten fuzz. Our cluster dynamics model, Xolotl, has been successfully benchmarked to high helium implantation flux MD simulations at relatively low implanted fluence. In this article, we also describe the extension of the Xolotl DDR model to incorporate the effect of bubble bursting, which is observed in very high rate MD simulations, as well as MD simulations at longer times than simulated in our prior benchmarking comparison. The bursting model parameters have been tuned by comparing to MD simulations at a flux of 5.0 × 10 27 m –2 s –1 , and also compared to lower implanted fluence simulations performed at ~4.0 × 10 25 m –2 s –1 . This article then reports on the consistency of the Xolotl predictions with respect to the size of the simulated cluster phase space (i.e. the maximum cluster size), initial vacancy concentration, and bubble growth trajectory (maximum number of helium atoms per vacancy). Finally, our simulation results are compared to helium plasma experiments that did not produce fuzz. While the Xolotl predictions including bubble bursting are in quantitative agreement with high-flux MD simulations, the initial comparison to plasma exposure experiments at a flux on the order of 10 21 m –2 s –1 disagree by more than an order of magnitude, and in fact cannot reproduce the trends in helium retention with varying exposure temperature. Modifying the initial vacancy concentrations and helium cluster diffusion behavior in Xolotl leads to a reasonable agreement with the experimental observations, although the underlying physical explanation for these modifications remains unclear. The predicted helium content at experimentally relevant fluxes has been shown to be relatively insensitive to the parameters used in the bubble bursting model implemented in Xolotl, although these parameters have a larger influence at higher flux. As a result, more systematic comparisons between the modeling predictions with both experiments and MD simulation results is expected to improve the bubble bursting model in Xolotl in the future.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nonlinear impact of the porous nanostructure on the net tungsten erosion in the linear plasma device PISCES-A

Abstract The tungsten fuzz growth under non-erosive and erosive helium plasmas in the linear plasma device PISCES-A has been investigated by experiments and simulations. The simulation results benchmarked against the experimental measurements indicate a decayed net physical sputtering yield during fuzz growth under the erosive helium plasma. Further, a nonlinear dependence of the net tungsten erosion on the ‘effective’ porous nanostructure that can be sputtered by incident helium particles has been found.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2017

Final Progress Report The U.S. Department of Energy Research Grant No. DE-SC0008660 Plasma Surface Interactions: Bridging from the Surface to the Micron Frontier through Leadership Class Computing

The choice of material for the plasma facing components (PFC), in particular, for divertor targets, is one of the main issues for future tokamak reactors. There are two major requirements for the PFC’s material: acceptable level of tritium retention and durability in a harsh environment of fusion grade plasma. Based on these criteria, some years ago it was decided that tungsten is an acceptable material for divertor targets in ITER. However, further experimental studies reveal that the irradiation of tungsten even with low energetic (well below sputtering threshold!) He containing plasma causes significant modification of surface morphology, formation of the layer of He nano-bubbles (in the temperature range T<1000 K), “fuzz” (for 1000 K 2000 K) (e.g. see Fig. 1). Recall that He, being an ash of D-T fusion reactions, is an inherent impurity in fusion plasma. The goals of the UCSD Applied Plasma Theory Group was: i) investigate the mechanisms of the formation of He nano-bubble layer and fuzz growth under He irradiation, as well as the physics of transport of hydrogen species in tungsten lattice, and ii) develop physics understanding of the models suitable for the incorporation into the Xolotl-PSI code based on the reaction-diffusion approach, which is the flagship of the whole SciDAC project [8], which can guide both numerical simulations and experimental studies. Here we just highlight our major accomplishments.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1995

Imaging the host galaxies of high-redshift radio-quiet QSOs

We present new deep K-band and optical images of four radio-quiet QSOs at z approximately = 1 and six radio-quiet QSOs at z approximately = 2.5, as well as optical images only of six more at z approximately = 2.5. We have examined the images carefully for evidence of extended 'fuzz' from any putative QSO host galaxy. None of the z approximately = 2.5 QSOs shows any extended emission, and only two of the z approximately = 1 QSOs show marginal evidence for extended emission. Our 3 sigma detection limits in the K images, m(sub K) approximately = 21 for an isolated source, would correspond approximately to an unevolved L(sup star) elliptical galaxy at z = 2.5 or 2-3 mag fainter than an L(sup star) elliptical at z = 1, although our limits on host galaxy light are weaker than this due to the difficulty of separating galaxy light from QSO light. We simulate simple models of disk and elliptical host galaxies, and find that the marginal emission around the two z approximately = 1 QSOs can be explained by disks or bulges that are approximately 1-2 mag brighter than an unevolved L(sup star) galaxy in one case and approximately 1.5-2.5 mag brighter than L(sub star) in the other. For two other z approximately = 1 QSOs, we have only upper limits (L approximately = L(sup star)). The hosts of the high-redshift sample must be no brighter than about 3 mag above an unevolved L(sup star) galaxy, and are at least 1 magnitude fainter than the hosts of radio-loud QSOs at the same redshift. If the easily detected K-band light surrounding a previous sample of otherwise similar but radio-loud QSOs is starlight, then it must evolve on timescales of greater than or approximately equal to 10(exp 8) yr (e.g., Chambers & Charlot 1990); therefore our non-detection of host galaxy fuzz around radio-quiet QSOs supports the view that high-redshift radio-quiet and radio-loud QSOs inhabit different host objects, rather than being single types of objects that turn their radio emission on and off over short timescales. This is consistent with the general trend at low redshifts that radio-loud QSOs are found in giant elliptical galaxies while radio-quiet QSOs are found in less luminous disk galaxies. It also suggests that the processes responsible for the spectacular properties of radio-loud AGNs at high redshifts might not be generally relevent to the (far more numerous) radio-quiet population.

Lowenthal, James D.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effects of surface vacancy-adatom pair formation on PFC tungsten surface morphological response

Abstract We report a simulation study of the effect of He-irradiation-induced surface vacancy-adatom pair formation on the surface morphological evolution of plasma-facing component (PFC) tungsten and examine a number of factors that impact such evolution. Our analysis is based on self-consistent dynamical simulations according to an atomistically-informed, continuum-scale surface evolution model that has been developed following a hierarchical multiscale modeling strategy and can access the spatiotemporal scales of relevance to fuzz formation. The model accounts for the flux of surface adatoms generated as a result of the surface vacancy-adatom pair formation effect upon He implantation, which contributes to the anisotropic growth of surface nanostructural features due to the different rates of adatom diffusion along and across step edges of islands on the tungsten surface. We have carried out atomic-scale computations of optimal diffusion pathways along and across island step edges on the W(110) surface and calculated Ehrlich–Schwoebel (ES) barriers in adatom diffusion along and across such step edges. This aspect of surface adatom diffusion contributes to anisotropic surface atomic fluxes, terrace and step diffusive currents, and has been incorporated into our PFC surface evolution model, which predicts the formation of preferentially aligned nanoridge stripe patterns on the PFC surface. We establish that these anisotropic diffusive currents accelerate nanotendril growth on the PFC surface and the onset of surface nanostructure pattern formation. We also explore systematically the dependence of the PFC surface morphological response on the surface temperature and He ion incident flux, characterize in detail the resulting surface topographies and growth kinetics, and compare the predicted surface morphologies with experimental observations. Our simulation predictions for the emerging surface nanostructure patterns under certain plasma exposure conditions are consistent with experimental findings in the literature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

High Flux Helium Irradiation of Dispersion-Strengthened Tungsten Alloys and Effects of Heavy Metal Impurity Layer Deposition

Tungsten has been chosen as the plasma-facing material (PFM) for the divertor region in ITER and also a candidate PFM for future plasma-burning nuclear fusion reactors. During fusion device operation, PFMs will be exposed to low-energy He irradiation at high temperatures, resulting in sub-surface bubbles and surface morphology changes such as pores and fuzz. Carbide dispersion-strengthened W materials may enhance the ductility of W, but their behavior under high flux He irradiation remains unclear. In this work, the response of dispersion-strengthened tungsten materials to high flux, low energy He irradiation at high temperature is examined. Tungsten alloyed with 1, 5, or 10 wt. % tantalum carbide or titanium carbide exposed to these conditions result in surface pores, coral-like feature growth and sub-surface helium bubbles. Reactor-relevant helium irradiation (5 x 10 26 m -2 fluence) combined with high powered laser pulses to simulate off-normal reactor events does not significantly alter the surface morphology, as the surface nanostructures appear stable and cracks are only observed on a localized region of one sample. However, specimens show the development of an impurity layer on the surface, likely impurity deposition from the sample holder during irradiation, resulting in a mixed material layer on the surface. Helium bubbles exist in this impurity layer, and obscure conclusions about helium interactions with the carbide dispersoids. Nonetheless, it is clear that the dispersoid microstructure limits He bubble formation and subsequent surface nanostructuring, attributed to the dispersoid composition.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Intense cyclic heating effects on thermo-fracture and thermal shock of solid tungsten and open-cell tungsten foam

Here we investigate here the effects of transient (cyclic) arc-jet plasma and laser heating on fracture behavior of W-foam and solid tungsten. The two key parameters that control the foam thermomechanical response are its density and mean cell size expressed in Pores Per Inch (PPI). Tungsten foam samples were fabricated with Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) with variety of PPI and relative density. These were tested under two types of qualitatively different conditions: (1) high-enthalpy arc-jet, and (2) high-power cyclic laser heating. None of the foam samples showed macroscopic through-thickness cracks. However, distributed micro-cracks were observed on ligaments and their triple junctions. Under the same loading conditions, W-foam and solid tungsten showed similar crack network pattern and characteristic length-scale. However, Crack Opening Displacement (COD) was twice as large in solid W as compared to W-foam. Foam samples that have been previously exposed to a low-pressure helium plasma showed significant changes in their surface forming nano-texture fuzz which was removed by subsequent testing in the arc-jet. Extensive fracture and re-crystallization were observed in the thin solid W disk that was fully-constrained from expansion. Thicker and fully-constrained solid W disks did not display recrystallization, grain growth, and extensive cracking. However, thicker disks that were free to expand showed some recrystallization and extensive through-thickness cracks due to less effective cooling and thus higher temperatures. Laser beam testing showed no visible damage formation at 0.19 GW/m 2 and 0.38 GW/m 2 for both low-density (23%) and high-density (43%) foams at low pulses (100-1000). Micro-cracks were observed after 10,000 pulses at 0.19 GW/m 2 in both foams, and in low-density foam after 100,000 at 0.38 GW/m 2 . The nature of thermomechanical damage in W-foam exposed to extreme power (GW/m 2 ) short-duration laser pulses was found to be qualitatively similar to that of high power (MW/m 2 ) long-duration arc-jet.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Mobility of tungsten clusters on tungsten surfaces

It is reported on an accelerated molecular dynamics investigation of surface transport mechanisms on W surfaces. These mechanisms likely influence the formation of nano-fuzz in fusion plasma-facing conditions. The simulations use an embedded-atom potential to investigate the diffusion mechanisms of W clusters (W n , n = 2–9) on W(1 1 0) and W(1 0 0) surfaces at 1000 K, reaching timescales beyond 10 microseconds. A number of fast moving adatom species, W n (n = 2–6), were observed. In contrast, slightly larger clusters W n (n = 7–9), especially W 8 , exhibit significantly lower diffusivities. The diffusion mechanisms of W n clusters on the W(1 1 0) surface are complex, with the most common elementary steps involving hops of monomers and dimers. Moreover, we observe tetramer hopping in the diffusion processes of W n (n = 4–7), trimer hopping in W n (n = 5, 6, 8), and pentamer hopping in W 5 on the W(1 1 0) surface. W n (n ≤ 3) and metastable W n (n > 3) clusters on the W(1 0 0) surface diffuse predominantly through monomer exchange with surface atoms. However, W clusters containing square tetramers are essentially immobile on the W(1 0 0) surface at 1000 K.

Instruments & Instrumentation↗
DOE OSTI2019

Deuterium and helium ion irradiation of nanograined tungsten and tungsten–titanium alloys

Tungsten (W), a primary candidate for the plasma-facing components of nuclear fusion reactors (e.g. the divertor region in ITER) is susceptible to cracks, blisters, bubbles, and other morphological changes when irradiated with energetic particles. This work investigated two new materials, nanograined W and a nanograined W–Ti alloy, for potential use as plasma-facing materials. Their retention properties and morphological changes after exposure to deuterium (D) and helium (He) plasma at 50 eV and surface temperatures of 500 and 1000 K were analyzed. Nanograined W was found to have smaller blisters and be less prone to fuzz formation than commonly-utilized micro-grain polycrystalline W. Additionally, the nanograined W–Ti alloy exhibited a lower concentration of blisters on its surface than pure W, including nanograined W.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Stability and mobility of tungsten clusters on tungsten (110) surface: Ab initio and atomistic simulations

Quantifying the surface transport properties of tungsten (W) is of prime importance to understand the formation of nano-fuzz in fusion plasma-facing conditions. The stability and mobility of W adatom clusters (W n , n = 2-9) on the W(110) surface has been investigated by computer simulations, including ab initio calculations using density functional theory (DFT) and molecular statics (MS) simulations with multiple W interatomic potentials. The DFT results demonstrate that the sequential binding energy generally increases with number of W adatoms, except for the 5 th and 7 th W adatoms. The most common elemental migration steps of W n (n>2) clusters are observed to consist of monomer and dimer hops, while larger W n clusters can also diffuse by dissociation and recombination of smaller clusters. The threshold migration energy of W 9 is the highest, then followed by W 8 , W 4 , and W 6 , while W 3 , W 5 , and W 7 have similar migration energies. Compared to DFT, each interatomic potential evaluated overestimates the binding energies of W n clusters. Additionally, the embedded-atom potential developed by Juslin and Wirth adequately predicts the threshold migration energy of W n (n>2) clusters, although it predicts different underlying migration mechanisms. The results show that interaction mechanism between W adatoms controls the stability and mobility of W n clusters on the W(110) surface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗