Hydrogen induced vacancy formation in tungsten

Atomic scale modelling methods have been used to study the change in vacancy population when H is introduced into the W bulk matrix. Vacancy defects are predicted to dominate in pure W, and the vacancy concentration is expected to be very small. A mechanism whereby H solutes facilitate vacancy formation has been outlined and a single H interstitial is predicted to reduce the vacancy formation energy from 2.95 eV to 2.23 eV. Clustering of H interstitials in W is predicted to be unfavourable without a W vacancy. H has also been shown to affect the vacancy binding characteristics in W, changing the behaviour from a repelling interaction in pure W, retarding the formation of small vacancy clusters, to an attractive interaction when vacancy-H clusters are considered. The changes in defect behaviour predicted, will have observable implications to operational properties and the application of W in fusion reactor components.