Influence of Au ions irradiation on the deuterium permeation behavior in the oxidized Fe-Cr-Al ferritic steel

Our previous study has shown that an effective TPB with α-Al2O3 found could be obtained by oxidization of a Fe-Cr-Al ferritic steel. In this study, irradiation effects on deuterium permeation behavior through oxidized Fe-Cr-Al ferritic steel (OFFS) have been investigated by Au ions irradiation followed by deuterium gas driven permeation (GDP) experiments to obtain and compare the deuterium permeability of irradiated and original OFFS samples. Oxide layer has been characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) experiment. The defects in the oxide layer with and without Au ions irradiation have been characterized by Doppler broadening spectrometry of positron annihilation (DBS-PA) experiments. The deuterium permeation behavior of OFFS changed owing to the Au ions irradiation, which might be attributed to the increased density of vacancy-type defects.