The properties of boron carbide and its coating, which seem important for the plasma-facing material in thermonuclear facilities, are presented. The basic steps for boron carbide (B4C) coating using carborane (C2B10H12) as the initial material are reported. It has been shown that is not susceptible to “chemical sputtering.” The sputtering rate of B4C is 3–4 times and the emission of carbon atoms is 15–20 times less than that of graphite and changes slightly up to 1500 K. Trapping of hydrogen isotope ions into the B4C coating tends to saturation at irradiation doses of about 7 × 1023 at/m2. A method for low-temperature “detritization” of the coating is proposed. Conditioning the coating by irradiating it with hydrogen ions with an energy of 50 eV left ≈8

The choice of plasma contact materials and configurations for power fusion reactors is still not obvious. The tokamak with reactor technologies (TRT) under construction should help resolve this issue. Therefore, the most complete study of the effect of plasma on the tokamak divertor for various types of discharges and an analysis of their consequences are of great importance. Divertor probes are devices that measure thermal and corpuscular flows toward the surface of a divertor and/or record the results of their impact on the divertor. They have found wide application in fusion facilities. The features, advantages, and disadvantages of the divertor probes presented in literature, as well as cases of using samples of materials or devices to solve individual problems to which divertor probes are applicable are discussed in this work. A preliminary design and thermal calculations of the divertor probe for the TRT tokamak are presented, which, according to the authors, is capable of performing a set of measurements that make it possible to draw a conclusion about the mechanisms and regularities of processes on the divertor surface depending on the parameters and conditions of plasma irradiation, as well as to speed up the determination of optimal materials and modes of plasma irradiation of divertor tiles.

A plasma reactor that contains vacuum–arc and magnetron sputtering sources and radio-frequency discharge that generates high-density plasma in the presence of external magnetic field is developed, constructed, and optimized. The reactor can be used for deposition of various functional coatings with ion stimulation. The parameters of the inductive radio-frequency discharge generated in the presence of external magnetic field that serves as a source of assisting ions are optimized. It is shown that the working interval of the induction of external magnetic field corresponds to the resonant excitation of the coupled helicon and Trivelpiece–Gold waves. The effect of magnitude and configuration of magnetic field on the parameters of gas-discharge plasma and ion current in the substrate region is studied in the presence of separately and simultaneously initiated magnetron and inductive discharges. The effect of ion flux that is incident on the films in the course of growth on the structure of functional coatings is analyzed.

The results of the experimental investigation into parameters of the helicon discharge plasma in a model of high-frequency hybrid plasma system equipped with a solenoidal antenna are presented. It is shown that an increase in the external magnetic field causes the formation of the plasma column and the displacement of the ion current over the discharge axis towards the lower model flange. The variation in the magnetic field configuration makes it possible to control the shape of the plasma column.

The results from experiments on measuring the rate of gasification for carbon and boron–carbon films and carbon fiber composite (CFC) exposed in oxygen–ozone mixtures are presented. The rate of gasification is 0.4–0.6 μm h–1 (at temperatures of 220–250°C, a pressure of 0.3 atm, and an ozone concentration of 0.6 at %) for carbon films; plane CFC samples; gaps 1 and 2 mm wide with walls of stainless steel; and gaps 1 mm wide with walls of CFC. It is 15 μm h–1 for plane CFC at a temperature of 250°C, a pressure of 1 atm, and an ozone concentration of 10 at %. The rate of gasification for boron–carbon films is from 3 to 30 nm h–1 for B/C ratios of 2.1 to 0.8 (at 250°C, 1 atm, and ozone concentration of 10 at %).

Tungsten layers with iron impurity were deposited on tungsten substrates modeling re-deposited layers in a fusion device. The samples were tested by thermocycling and hydrogen ion beam tests. Thermocycling revealed globule formation on the surface. The size of the globules depended on iron impurity content in the coating deposited. Pore formation was observed which in some cases lead to exfoliation of the coatings. Hydrogen ion irradiation lead to formation of blisters on the coating and finally its exfoliation.

The paper presents the results of investigation of gas exchange through stainless steel surface of the plasma chamber under irradiation with hydrogen atoms in oxygen atmosphere or oxygen contaminated hydrogen plasma. Dependence of this process on various irradiation parameters, such as the metal temperature, energy of irradiating ions, gas composition of plasma are studied. It is shown, that desorption from stainless steel is activated with the increase of the plasma chamber walls temperature and energy of irradiating ions. Hydrogen release occurs also under irradiation of the walls by helium and argon plasmas added with oxygen, however the amount of released hydrogen is several times lower than in the case of irradiation with oxygen contaminated deuterium plasma.

The results of the study of the plasma hybrid system based on the combined magnetron discharge and high-frequency inductive discharge located in the external magnetic field is presented. Magnetron discharge provides the generation of atoms and ions of the target materials while the flow of accelerated ions used for the ion assistance is provided by the RF inductive discharge. An external magnetic field is used to optimize the power input to the discharge, to increase the ion current density in the realm of substrate and to enhance the area of uniform plasma. The joint operation of magnetron and RF inductive discharge leads to a substantial increase (not equal to the sum of the parameters obtained under separate operation of two hybrid system channels) of the ion current density and intensity of sputtered material spectral lines radiation. Optimal mode of the hybrid plasma system operation provides uniform ion current density on the diameter of at least 150mm at 0.7PA argon pressure. The optimal values of the magnetic fields in the region of the substrate location lie in the range 2-8 mTl, while in the region of the RF input power unit lie in the range 0.5-25 mTl.

The experimental results concerning the elaboration of the technology used to manufacture thin film negative electrodes for lithium-ion batteries based on Si–O–Al–Zn composites have been presented. The regimes of sputtering and the possibilities of controlling the structure and phase composition of the films, the methods used for the diagnostics of the structure and phase composition of the films, and the results of the electrochemical tests of the negative electrodes have been described.

The behavior of fine-grained (1–5 μm) boron and tungsten powders upon exposure to heat, electric field, and argon and hydrogen plasma ions is studied. A wide range of powder modifications caused by the above factors is sequentially considered. The driving forces and processes controlling the describedmodifications are presented.

A device intended for boron carbide coating deposition and material testing under high heat loads is presented. A boron carbide coating 5 μm thick was deposited on the tungsten substrate. These samples were subjected to thermocycling loads in the temperature range of 400–1500°C. Tungsten layers deposited on tungsten substrates were tested in similar conditions. Results of the surface analysis are presented.

Experiments are performed to study particle trapping in a graphitized carbon composite upon its exposure to a flux of deuterium atoms. It is shown that irradiation by deuterium atoms with thermal velocities ensures trapping according to a potential mechanism: atoms of the irradiating flux and hydrogen atoms from a layer of water molecules sorbed on the surface are both trapped. Mechanisms of trapping are discussed. Based on the experimental results, the contribution to deuterium-atom trapping in CFC irradiated in deuterium plasma is determined for each component-ions, electrons, and atoms.

Based on the literature thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) data, TDS spectra of hydrogen were analyzed and classified by graphite materials and implantation conditions. Using our experimental results, all the spectra were recalculated to the equal heating rate of 5K/s. The peak positions in TDS spectra have been found to be related to irradiation conditions and to the type of hydrogen traps. An example of using the established regularities of the TDS spectra is given to obtain the data on hydrogen trapping and retention in graphite materials.