Tritium Adsorption on Tungsten and Boron Carbide Coatings Deposited by Vacuum Plasma Spraying

Tungsten (W) and boron carbide (B₄C) coatings deposited on metallic substrates have received considerable attention in recent years because of their potential application in nuclear fusion devices, especially as plasma facing materials (PFMs). In the present study, W and B₄C coatings have been deposited by vacuum plasma spraying technology. The tritium retention behaviors of the W and B₄C coatings were investigated and comparatively studied by using -ray-induced X-ray spectrometry (BIXS). The effects of tritium exposure temperature were examined as well. The obtained results showed that much stronger X-ray peaks of Ar(K) appeared in the BIXS spectra for the B₄C coatings as compared with those for the W coatings, indicating of higher tritium absorbability for the B₄C coatings owing to large amount of micro-pores in the coatings. After exposed to tritium gas at 923 K, significantly enhanced tritium retentions were detected for both the W and B₄C coatings as compared with those exposed at 573 K.