Changes of internal properties of vanadium and structure of its surface under the effect of pulsed high-temperature deuterium plasma

The work presents experimental research of the influence of a pulse of high-temperature dense plasma on materials, which as are supposed, will be used in future thermonuclear power stations. The experiments were made on 4 kJ Plasma Focus installation. Such type of installations is capable to form pulse of axial plasma flows moving with velocity approximately 108 cm/s and plasma density is about 1018 cm−3. Pure vanadium was chosen in our researches, because it can be used as a basic element at the creation of low-activated alloys. We found that due to a pulse irradiation of vanadium by deuterium plasma, shock waves arises, which result in super-deep penetration of deuterium into a volume of the studied sample. This process is accompanied with the change of vanadium structure, the occurrence of pores in it, and changes of its mechanical properties. The break-away of vanadium particles from the backside surface of the sample and forming of craters were also observed.