Deuterium retention in rhenium-doped tungsten

Deuterium retention in rhenium doped tungsten (W–Re) was investigated by means of the thermodesorption technique. W–Re alloys of different structures and concentrations of Re were investigated. All tungsten rhenium alloys had a common structural feature – micron size voids in the bulk. The samples were irradiated by 200 eV deuterium ions in the fluence range 1022–1024 D/m2. The thermodesorption spectra of polycrystalline W measured with a linear ramp of 5 K/s has two peaks at ∼450 and 650 K. In TDS of W–Re alloys an additional high-temperature peak was found at 850 K. The observed retention in W–Re alloys depends strongly on materials structure. In the range of 1–10%Re admixture the Re concentration in W–Re alloy does not influence noticeably the deuterium retention. Structure changes (filling of voids in material) was found to take place both at annealing and low-energy deuterium irradiation.