Steady state hydrogen, deuterium, helium and argon plasma interactions with a liquid metal: Ga67In20.5Sn12.5 convected by Lorentz force

Abstract

Steady state hydrogen, deuterium and helium plasma interactions with a liquid metal: Ga67In20.5Sn12.5 at termperatures between room temperature and ∼250°C have been investigated with JxB-forced convection, using a laboratory-scale facility: VEHICLE-1. Noticeably reduced recycling has been observed for all these gases, when JxB-forced convection is applied, under respevtive plasma bombardment. Preliminary fluid dynamics modeling has been done to interpret experimental observations. For hydrogenic species, a trend has been found, indicating temperature-dependent retention saturation levels. With thermal desorption spectrometry, the amount of deuterium retention after saturation at ∼250°C has been evaluated to be of the order of 1014D/cm3 whereas the retention of inert gases is found to be undetectable.