In-line and following-up tests of perspective fusion-reactor materials in plasma focus devices

The paper presents results of recent experiments, as performed with the PF-1000 and PF-6 Plasma-Focus facilities, which were aimed at investigation of the correlation between processes of the irradiation of different materials of fusion devices and results of this irradiation. Among the irradiated samples there were pure tungsten, tantalum, copper, aluminum, and alloys, based on these metals, various steels, carbon and carbon-based materials, which are designed for plasma facing components or constructional parts of future thermonuclear reactors of the inertial- and magnetic-confinement types. The corpuscular radiation consisted of high-energy (E _D>100 keV) deuterium ion beams and fast (v _str ≥ 10⁷ cm/s) deuterium-plasma streams. They were investigated by a number of methods with spatial and temporal resolution. Particular attention was paid to the verification of diagnostic techniques, which might be used for time- and space-resolved studies of the interaction process. Correlation of these data with information obtained from subsequent analytical investigation of some of the irradiated specimens, as performed by means of a number of methods typical for material sciences, gives possibility to deduce physical mechanisms of the deuterium implantation and radiation damage of the investigated materials in dependence on the conditions of their irradiation.