The microstructure and He+ ion irradiation behavior of novel low-activation W-Ta-Cr-V refractory high entropy alloy for nuclear applications

D. Kalita; I. Jóźwik; Kurpaska; Y. Zhang; K. Mulewska; W. Chrominski; J. O'Connell; Y. Ge; W. L. Boldman; P. D. Rack; Y. Wang; W. J. Weber; J. Jagielski

doi:10.1016/j.nme.2023.101513

The microstructure and He⁺ ion irradiation behavior of novel low-activation W-Ta-Cr-V refractory high entropy alloy for nuclear applications

D. Kalita (Corresponding Author), I. Jóźwik, Kurpaska, Y. Zhang, K. Mulewska, W. Chrominski, J. O'Connell, Y. Ge, W. L. Boldman, P. D. Rack, Y. Wang, W. J. Weber, J. Jagielski

BA4509 Advanced materials for nuclear energy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Microstructure and nanohardness of a nearly equimolar W-Ta-Cr-V high entropy alloy (HEA), as well as its irradiation response under He⁺ irradiation, were investigated. The single-phase body-centered cubic nanostructured alloy with a 1 µm thick layer was fabricated on a silicon substrate using a magnetron sputtering method. The HEA film has a complex microstructure consisting of micrometric domains that exhibit internal nanostructure controlled by their crystal orientation. The measured nanohardness of the W-Ta-Cr-V alloy is 13 ± 2 GPa, which significantly exceeds the hardness of nanocrystalline tungsten as a result of the high solid-solution strengthening effect. In order to evaluate the irradiation resistance of the HEA film, the material was irradiated with 200 keV He⁺ ions at room temperature, with two different ion fluences: 1 × 10¹⁶ and 5 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm². Using transmission electron microscopy, a high density of extremely fine He bubbles is observed that were uniformly distributed in the matrix. The increase of He⁺ ion fluence increased the density of bubbles, whereas their size remained at a similar level, which indicates that the damage proceeds by the nucleation of additional He bubbles, not by their growth.

Original language	English
Article number	101513
Journal	Nuclear Materials and Energy
Volume	37
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2023.101513
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

This publication is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 857470 and from the European Regional Development Fund via the Foundation for Polish Science International Research Agenda PLUS program grant No. MAB PLUS/2018/8 and South African National Research Foundation (118681). This work has been partially supported by the INLAS project financed by the Polish National Centre for Research and Development (PL-RPA2/01/INLAS/2019). YZ is supported through the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho Operations Office (an agency of the U.S. Government) Contract DE-AC07-05ID145142. This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. Los Alamos National Laboratory, an affirmative action equal opportunity employer, is managed by Triad National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s NNSA, under contract 89233218CNA000001.

Keywords

He bubbles
He irradiation
HEA
High-entropy alloys
Ion irradiation
Radiation damage

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10.1016/j.nme.2023.101513Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Kalita, D., Jóźwik, I., Kurpaska, Zhang, Y., Mulewska, K., Chrominski, W., O'Connell, J., Ge, Y., Boldman, W. L., Rack, P. D., Wang, Y., Weber, W. J., & Jagielski, J. (2023). The microstructure and He⁺ ion irradiation behavior of novel low-activation W-Ta-Cr-V refractory high entropy alloy for nuclear applications. Nuclear Materials and Energy, 37, Article 101513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2023.101513

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title = "The microstructure and He+ ion irradiation behavior of novel low-activation W-Ta-Cr-V refractory high entropy alloy for nuclear applications",

abstract = "Microstructure and nanohardness of a nearly equimolar W-Ta-Cr-V high entropy alloy (HEA), as well as its irradiation response under He+ irradiation, were investigated. The single-phase body-centered cubic nanostructured alloy with a 1 µm thick layer was fabricated on a silicon substrate using a magnetron sputtering method. The HEA film has a complex microstructure consisting of micrometric domains that exhibit internal nanostructure controlled by their crystal orientation. The measured nanohardness of the W-Ta-Cr-V alloy is 13 ± 2 GPa, which significantly exceeds the hardness of nanocrystalline tungsten as a result of the high solid-solution strengthening effect. In order to evaluate the irradiation resistance of the HEA film, the material was irradiated with 200 keV He+ ions at room temperature, with two different ion fluences: 1 × 1016 and 5 × 1016 ions/cm2. Using transmission electron microscopy, a high density of extremely fine He bubbles is observed that were uniformly distributed in the matrix. The increase of He+ ion fluence increased the density of bubbles, whereas their size remained at a similar level, which indicates that the damage proceeds by the nucleation of additional He bubbles, not by their growth.",

keywords = "He bubbles, He irradiation, HEA, High-entropy alloys, Ion irradiation, Radiation damage",

author = "D. Kalita and I. J{\'o}{\'z}wik and Kurpaska and Y. Zhang and K. Mulewska and W. Chrominski and J. O'Connell and Y. Ge and Boldman, {W. L.} and Rack, {P. D.} and Y. Wang and Weber, {W. J.} and J. Jagielski",

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Kalita, D, Jóźwik, I, Kurpaska, Zhang, Y, Mulewska, K, Chrominski, W, O'Connell, J, Ge, Y, Boldman, WL, Rack, PD, Wang, Y, Weber, WJ & Jagielski, J 2023, 'The microstructure and He⁺ ion irradiation behavior of novel low-activation W-Ta-Cr-V refractory high entropy alloy for nuclear applications', Nuclear Materials and Energy, vol. 37, 101513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2023.101513

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T1 - The microstructure and He+ ion irradiation behavior of novel low-activation W-Ta-Cr-V refractory high entropy alloy for nuclear applications

AU - Kalita, D.

AU - Jóźwik, I.

AU - Kurpaska,

AU - Zhang, Y.

AU - Mulewska, K.

AU - Chrominski, W.

AU - O'Connell, J.

AU - Ge, Y.

AU - Boldman, W. L.

AU - Rack, P. D.

AU - Wang, Y.

AU - Weber, W. J.

AU - Jagielski, J.

PY - 2023/12

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N2 - Microstructure and nanohardness of a nearly equimolar W-Ta-Cr-V high entropy alloy (HEA), as well as its irradiation response under He+ irradiation, were investigated. The single-phase body-centered cubic nanostructured alloy with a 1 µm thick layer was fabricated on a silicon substrate using a magnetron sputtering method. The HEA film has a complex microstructure consisting of micrometric domains that exhibit internal nanostructure controlled by their crystal orientation. The measured nanohardness of the W-Ta-Cr-V alloy is 13 ± 2 GPa, which significantly exceeds the hardness of nanocrystalline tungsten as a result of the high solid-solution strengthening effect. In order to evaluate the irradiation resistance of the HEA film, the material was irradiated with 200 keV He+ ions at room temperature, with two different ion fluences: 1 × 1016 and 5 × 1016 ions/cm2. Using transmission electron microscopy, a high density of extremely fine He bubbles is observed that were uniformly distributed in the matrix. The increase of He+ ion fluence increased the density of bubbles, whereas their size remained at a similar level, which indicates that the damage proceeds by the nucleation of additional He bubbles, not by their growth.

AB - Microstructure and nanohardness of a nearly equimolar W-Ta-Cr-V high entropy alloy (HEA), as well as its irradiation response under He+ irradiation, were investigated. The single-phase body-centered cubic nanostructured alloy with a 1 µm thick layer was fabricated on a silicon substrate using a magnetron sputtering method. The HEA film has a complex microstructure consisting of micrometric domains that exhibit internal nanostructure controlled by their crystal orientation. The measured nanohardness of the W-Ta-Cr-V alloy is 13 ± 2 GPa, which significantly exceeds the hardness of nanocrystalline tungsten as a result of the high solid-solution strengthening effect. In order to evaluate the irradiation resistance of the HEA film, the material was irradiated with 200 keV He+ ions at room temperature, with two different ion fluences: 1 × 1016 and 5 × 1016 ions/cm2. Using transmission electron microscopy, a high density of extremely fine He bubbles is observed that were uniformly distributed in the matrix. The increase of He+ ion fluence increased the density of bubbles, whereas their size remained at a similar level, which indicates that the damage proceeds by the nucleation of additional He bubbles, not by their growth.

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