Helium implanted Eurofer97 characterized by positron beam Doppler broadening and Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy

Reduced Activation Ferritic/Martensitic steels are being extensively studied because of their foreseen application in fusion and Generation IV fission reactors. To produce irradiation induced defects, Eurofer97 samples were implanted with helium at energies of 500 keV and 2 MeV and doses of 1 × 1015–1016 He/cm2, creating atomic displacements in the range 0.07–0.08 dpa. The implantation induced defects were characterized by positron beam Doppler Broadening (DB) and Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS). Results show that up to ∼600 K peaks that can be attributed to He desorption from overpressured HenVm (n > m) clusters and vacancy assisted mechanism in the case of helium in the substitutional position. The temperature range 600–1200 K is related to the formation of larger clusters HenVm (n < m). The dissociation of the HeV and the phase transition attributed to a sharp peak in the TDS spectra at 1200 K. Above this temperature, the release of helium from bubbles is observed.