K. Mergia (Sp), National Center for Scientific Research "Demokritos", Athens (Greece); F. Koch, Max
Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Garching (Germany); G. Apostolopoulos, National Center for
Scientific Research "Demokritos", Aghia Paraskevi Attikis (Greece); H. Bolt, Max Planck Institute for
Plasma Physics, Garching (Germany); S. Messoloras, National Center for Scientific Research
"Demokritos", Aghia Paraskevi Attikis (Greece); F. Cousin, Laboratoire Léon Brilloin, Gif sur Yvette
(France)
Tungsten is a favored material for the plasma facing components of fusion power plants and it has been selected
as primary material candidate in EU Fusion Programme for divertor structural and armour applications.
Tungsten may be subject to strong oxidation under loss-of –coolant conditions and air ingress in a fusion reactor.
The tungsten oxides which form have high vapour pressure and may evaporate at temperatures of approximately
1000°C.
In this work we report on the study of the oxidization mechanism of tungsten compound coatings using neutron
reflectivity measurements. The tungsten coatings with addition of Si and other protective elements have been
fabricated by magnetron sputtering and were oxidized at different temperatures for various times. Information
about the oxide layer thickness and the overall in-depth profile density is provided.