Melt layer erosion of pure and lanthanum doped tungsten under VDE-like high heat flux loads

Heat loads expected for VDEs in ITER were applied in the neutral beam facility GLADIS at IPP Garching. Several ∼3mm thick rolled pure W and W–1wt% La2O3 plates were exposed to pulsed hydrogen beams with a central heat flux of 23MW/m2 for 1.5–1.8s. The melting thresholds are determined, and melt layer motion as well as material structure evolutions are shown. The melting thresholds of the two W grades are very close in this experimental setup. Lots of big bubbles with diameters from several μm to several 10μm in the re-solidified layer of W were observed and they spread deeper with increasing heat flux. However, for W–1wt% La2O3, no big bubbles were found in the corrugated melt layer. The underlying mechanisms referred to the melt layer motion and bubble issues are tentatively discussed based on comparison of the erosion characteristics between the two W grades.