Self-Healing Behavior of Pores in Atmosphere Plasma Sprayed Tritium Permeation Barrier Coatings

Decrease of pores in tritium permeation barriers is one of the most important problems to be addressed for the proper functioning of the fusion reactor. In this paper, a self-healing composite coating composed of TiC+mixture (TiC/Al₂O₃) +Al₂O₃ was developed to solve this problem. The coating was deposited on martensitic steels by plasma spraying with a thickness of 100μm. After heat-treatment, the morphology and phase of the coating were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The corrosion resistance of the coating before and after heat treatment was examined by electrochemistry techniques. The results showed that the TiC+mixture (TiC/Al₂O₃)+Al₂O₃ coating exhibited good adhesion to the substrate and a perfect self-healing ability with the porosity decreased by 90% after heat-treatment. The corrosion resistance of the coating increased evidently after the heat treatment. The oxidation/expansion of TiC in the coating played an important role in the sealing of pores.