Effect of vanadium alloying on irradiation performance of tungsten under 60 keV helium irradiation

This work is a comparative study aiming to compare blistering and desorption behaviors of pure tungsten (W) and tungsten-vanadium alloy (W-V) after 60 keV helium (He) irradiation. Pure tungsten and tungsten-vanadium alloy, with a mass fraction of 5% V, were fabricated through powder metallurgy, then underwent irradiation of 60 keV He2+ ions at a fluence of 1.04 × 1022 m−2. X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed before irradiation to characterize the microstructures of the two specimens, while after the irradiation, scanning electron microscopy and thermal desorption spectroscopy were carried out to investigate blistering and desorption behaviors. The results indicate helium blistering of tungsten could be effectively mitigated with the addition of an appropriate proportion of vanadium. In the desorption temperature range of 300 K-1300 K, desorption of helium in the tungsten-vanadium alloy was also smaller than in pure tungsten. Alloying tungsten with 5 wt% of vanadium may have improved irradiation resistance compared with pure tungsten.