The development of advanced tungsten grades able to tolerate irradiation damage combined with thermo-mechanical loads is important for design of plasma-facing components for DEMO. The material microstructure (i.e. grain size, dislocation density, sub grains, texture) is defined by manufacturing and post heat treatment processes. In turn, the initial microstructure might have an important influence on the accumulation of neutron damage because irradiation defects interact with microstructural defects evolving into a new microstructural state. In this work, the microstructure and hardness of four tungsten grades is assessed before and after neutron irradiation performed at 600, 1000 and 1200 C, up to a dose of ∼1.2 dpa. Experimental characterization involves hardness testing, energy dispersive spectroscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The investigated grades include Plansee and AT&M ITER specification tungsten, as well as fine grain tungsten produced by spark plasma sintering, and ultra-fine grain tungsten reinforced with 0.5 wt% ZrC particles.

开发能够耐受辐射损伤和热机械负载的先进钨等级对于 DEMO 面向等离子组件的设计非常重要。材料微观结构（即晶粒尺寸、位错密度、亚晶粒、织构）由制造和后热处理工艺定义。反过来，初始微观结构可能对中子损伤的积累产生重要影响，因为辐照缺陷与微观结构缺陷相互作用，演变成新的微观结构状态。在这项工作中，在 600、1000 和 1200 C 下进行中子辐照之前和之后，评估了四种钨等级的微观结构和硬度，剂量高达 1.2 dpa。实验表征包括硬度测试、能量色散光谱、电子背散射衍射、和透射电子显微镜。研究的牌号包括攀时和 AT&M ITER 规格的钨，以及通过放电等离子烧结生产的细晶粒钨，以及用 0.5 wt% ZrC 颗粒增强的超细晶粒钨。