Effects of the implantation of Sn ions in W; chemical state, crystal structure and hardness

Abstract Prior to the practical application of liquid metals as facing material for fusion reactor, the nature of the interaction layer between liquid metal and tungsten substrate should be studied deeply. In the present work, by means of ion implantation technique using a metal vapor vacuum arc source (MEVVA), Sn ions were injected into a W matrix and a W-Sn modified layer was prepared. The chemical state, crystal structure and nano-indentation hardness of the modified layer were investigated and characterized with the use of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and a nano-indentor. The results indicate that, after the injection of Sn ions into the W matrix, Sn atoms interacted intensively with W, leading to the generation of a large number of point defects (such as vacancies and self-interstitial atoms) and the decrease of average grain size from 16.7 to 11.9 nm. Additionally, chemical shifts appeared, i.e., the binding energy values of W 4f7/2, W 4f5/2, W 5p3/2 and W 4p1/2 in the modified layer was reduced by 0.3 eV, 0.3 eV, 0.4 eV, 1–1.4 eV, respectively. The binding energy values of Sn 3d5/2 and Sn 3d3/2 decreased, with a chemical shift of 0.6–0.7 eV and 0.1–0.3 eV, respectively. The nano-indentation hardness of the modified layer was enhanced; specifically, when the indentation depth was 26.3 nm, the hardness reached a peak value of 13.8 GPa. In the modified layer, the surface chemical states are quite complex, mainly including SnO, WO3, SnO2 and WC.