Abstract
Steady-state deuterium plasma exposures were performed on ultra-high temperature ceramics titanium diboride (TiB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2) using the PISCES-RF linear plasma device (LPD) as early screening for first wall, plasma-facing applications. Deuterium plasma exposures were performed using 40 eV ion energies at 240, 525, and 800 °C sample temperatures and 90 eV ion energies at 240 °C sample temperatures to analyze TiB2 and ZrB2 surface morphology and chemistry evolution behavior. Post-plasma exposure chemistry characterization of the near surface ( < 50 nm) region of the samples all show transition metal enrichment, indicating boron preferential erosion. Transition metal to boron fractions vary with plasma exposure temperature under the 40 eV ion energy; metal enrichment is maximized at 800 °C and then minimized at 525 °C. SEM micrographs of all plasma exposed sample surfaces show no significant or noticeable plasma induced damage from cracking or blistering.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 124001 |
| Journal | Nuclear Fusion |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2024 |
Funding
We would like to thank Dr. Gregory Hilmas and Dr. Jeremy Watts from Missouri S&T for manufacturing the diboride samples. We also thank Sabrina Calzada (ORNL) for aiding in SEM characterization and Dr. Jake Nichols (ORNL) and Dr. Md Shahinul Islam (ORNL) for their helpful suggestions and discussion. This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Fusion Energy Sciences Postdoctoral Research Program administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) for the DOE. ORISE is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) under DOE Contract Number DE-SC0014664. Work was also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, under Award(s) DE-AC05-00OR22725 and by the U.S. Department of Energy Cooperative Agreement No. DE-SC0022528. All opinions expressed in this paper are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of DOE, ORAU, or ORISE. Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://www.energy.gov/doe-public-access-plan ).
Keywords
- PISCES-RF
- linear plasma devices
- plasma-material interaction
- ultra-high temperature ceramics