Study of the Microstructure Induced by High-Flux Plasma via Transmission Electron Microscopy

Abstract

The annealed and heavily deformed states of the tungsten microstructure are studied using transmission electron microscopy after irradiation by high-flux plasma. Exposure to plasma substantially increases the dislocation density in the surface layers of both samples, namely, by more than an order of magnitude as compared to the initial value. At a distance of more than 10–15 μm from the surface, the material microstructure is comparable with that observed in the bulk of the sample not exposed to plasma. The given observation indicates that high-flux plasma produces deep and localized plastic deformation in the subsurface layer regardless of the initial hardening and dislocation density.