Influence of high-energy particles on copper and stainless steel in fusion reactor materials

Abstract

Many studies have focused on the effect of fusion plasma particles onto the structural materials of future nuclear fusion reactors. In this paper, the effect of the products of the first-generation fuel reaction on structural fusion materials, such as copper and 316-stainless steel target materials, was studied. Firstly, the effect of 14.1 MeV neutrons produced from D–T neutron generator for different irradiation times, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 60 min, was investigated. Hence, this effect was analyzed and characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, surface roughness test, scanning electron microscope, and Vickers hardness. Secondly, the effect of 3.5 MeV α-particles on these target materials by different incident angles, 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 85°, using SRIM code was studied. Also, SRIM code was used to calculate α-particles’ trajectories, projected and straggle ranges, skewness, kurtosis, target ionization/phonons, and total displacements for copper and 316-stainless steel target materials.