Self-passivating tungsten based alloys for the first wall armor of future fusion reactors are expected to provide an important safety advantage compare to pure tungsten in case of a loss-of-coolant accident with simultaneous air ingress, due to the formation of a stable protective scale at high temperatures in presence of oxygen preventing the formation of volatile and radioactive WO₃. In this work, Zr is added to self-passivating W-10Cr-0.5Y alloy, manufactured by mechanical alloying and HIP, in view of improving its mechanical strength and thus, its thermal shock resistance. The as-HIPed W-10Cr-0.5Y-0.5Zr exhibits a nanocrystalline microstructure with the presence of an extremely fine nanoparticle dispersion. After heat treatment at 1555 °C for 1.5 h, the grain size growths from less than 100 nm to 620 nm and nanoparticles are present both at the grain boundaries and inside the grains. Oxidation tests at 1000 °C revealed that the alloy with Zr exhibits also a strong oxidation reduction compared to pure W. The long-term oxidation rate is similar to that of the alloy without Zr. Under thermal shock loading simulating 1000 ELM-like pulses at the divertor, the heat treated Zr-containing alloy did not present any damage.

与纯钨相比，由于形成了稳定的保护层，在发生冷却剂损失事故并同时进入空气的情况下，与纯钨相比，用于未来聚变反应堆第一壁装甲的自钝化钨基合金有望提供重要的安全优势。氧气存在下在高温下产生水垢，防止形成挥发性和放射性WO ₃。在这项工作中，考虑到提高机械强度并因此提高其抗热震性，将Zr添加到通过机械合金化和HIP制造的自钝化W-10Cr-0.5Y合金中。原样的W-10Cr-0.5Y-0.5Zr表现出纳米晶体的微观结构，并且存在极细的纳米颗粒分散体。在1555°C下热处理1.5小时后，晶粒尺寸从不到100 nm增长到620 nm，并且纳米颗粒同时存在于晶界和晶粒内部。在1000°C下的氧化测试表明，与纯W相比，具有Zr的合金还表现出较强的氧化还原性。长期氧化速率与不含Zr的合金相似。在热冲击载荷下，在偏滤器上模拟了1000个类似ELM的脉冲，热处理过的含Zr合金没有任何损坏。