Anti-irradiation performance against helium bombardment in bulk metallic glass (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5

In order to compare the resistance to He2+ ion induced irradiation between metallic glass and polycrystal W metal, this paper used different fluences of He2+ ion-irradiated metallic glass (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 and polycrystal W with an energy of 500 keV. The SRIM simulation calculation results showed that the range (1.19 μm) of He2+ in metallic glass was greater than the one (0.76 μm) in polycrystal W. The SEM analysis showed that there was no significant irradiation damage phenomenon on the surface of metallic glass, and there was only a damage layer 1.45 μm away from the surface when the fluence reached 2 × 1018 ions/cm2. For W, there were surface peeling, flaking and other surface damages at a fluence of 1 × 1018 ions/cm2; when the fluence increased to 2 × 1018 ions/cm2, multilayer detachment phenomenon appeared. The surface root mean square roughness of metallic glass (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 first increased and then decreased with the increase of fluence. The surface reflectivity of (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 decreased with the increase of fluence. Through detection by XRD, it was found that (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 always maintained amorphous phase after different fluences of radiation. The resistance to He2+ irradiation of metallic glass (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 was superior to the one in polycrystal W.

► This paper used He2+ ion-irradiated metallic glass (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 and the W metal with the energy of 500 keV.
► There was no significant irradiation damage phenomenon on the surface of metallic glass at different irradiation fluences.
► For irradiated W, the peeling, delamination and flaking appeared numerously at fluences of 1 × 1018 and 2 × 1018 ions/cm2.
► The resistance to He2+ irradiation of metallic glass (Cu47Zr45Al8)98.5Y1.5 was superior to the one in W metal.