Evidence for a high temperature whisker growth mechanism active in tungsten during in situ nanopillar compression

Gowtham Sriram Jawaharram, Christopher M. Barr, Khalid Hattar, Shen J. Dillon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A series of nanopillar compression tests were performed on tungsten as a function of temperature using in situ transmission electron microscopy with localized laser heating. Surface oxidation was observed to form on the pillars and grow in thickness with increasing temperature. Deformation between 850C and 1120C is facilitated by long-range diffusional transport from the tungsten pillar onto adjacent regions of the Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 indenter. The constraint imposed by the surface oxidation is hypothesized to underly this mechanism for localized plasticity, which is generally the so-called whisker growth mechanism. The results are discussed in context of the tungsten fuzz growth mechanism in He plasma-facing environments. The two processes exhibit similar morphological features and the conditions under which fuzz evolves appear to satisfy the conditions necessary to induce whisker growth.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2429
JournalNanomaterials
Volume11
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

Keywords

  • Fuzz
  • In situ
  • Transmission electron microscopy
  • Tungsten
  • Whisker

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemical Engineering(all)
  • Materials Science(all)

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