The effect of cerium doping on helium implantation behavior in tungsten

In order to study the effect of W–Ce alloy with helium implantation, W–Ce alloy has been exposed to helium beams with energy of 45 KeV and flux of 1.5–2.0 × 1013 ion/cm2 s−1. Surface morphology has been observed by scanning electron microscope, the composition of the samples is analyzed by energy dispersive spectrometer, and the mechanical property is tested by nano-hardness tester. The surface morphology indicated the blister and surface damage of tungsten strongly depend on fluence and affected by the element doping. Surface blister were observed for pure W while no blister was observed for W–Ce alloy. A lot of pores caused by sputtering were observed on the both types of samples. W–Ce alloy showed better performance on mechanical property compared with pure W. These results indicated that the He–Ce–V complexes and fine second phase sediments in the grain boundary can obstruct the migration and coalescence of helium atoms, and obstruct the slip of grain boundary resulting in the improvement of mechanical property.