Recently, plasma-facing components based on liquid metals were proposed for a prospective nuclear fusion reactor in order to circumvent challenges that occur for solid metal components, such as erosion lifetime, neutron embrittlement or transient overloading. One candidate material is liquid tin. We present a systematic study of the behavior of solid and liquid tin exposed to a low-temperature deuterium plasma at temperatures between 300 and 515 K, focusing on deuterium retention and thermal release as well as on tin erosion and re-deposition. We find strong variations of deuterium depth profiles, deuterium release spectra, and tin erosion rates, which are correlated to dramatic changes in the surface morphology. In particular, we find evidence for massive gas bubble formation in tin, which can lead to the evolution of a thick, sponge-like layer for tin exposed to deuterium plasma just below the melting point, and to the rapid formation of a macroscopic gas pocket below liquid t...

中文翻译：

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低温等离子体暴露后，固态和液态锡中的氘保留

最近，提出了一种基于液态金属的面向等离子体的组件用于未来的核聚变反应堆，以规避固态金属组件所发生的挑战，例如腐蚀寿命，中子脆化或瞬态过载。一种候选材料是液态锡。我们目前对固态和液态锡在300至515 K的温度下暴露于低温氘等离子体的行为进行系统的研究，重点是氘的保留和热释放以及锡的腐蚀和再沉积。我们发现氘深度分布，氘释放光谱和锡腐蚀速率有很大的变化，这与表面形态的剧烈变化有关。特别是，我们发现了在锡中形成大量气泡的证据，这可能导致厚的，