Deuterium reclamation from C-Si codeposits using thermo-oxidation

SiC exhibits a remarkable resistance to neutron irradiation damage and, being a low-Z material, is seen as a potential material candidate for plasma-facing components in magnetic confinement fusion reactors. The current work investigates the reclamation of deuterium from C-Si codeposits produced by sputter-deposition at temperatures from 300 K to 700 K using thermo-oxidation at 350 °C and 400 °C (623 or 673 K). While initial D content was found to be close to that of similarly-produced pure carbon codeposits, hydrogen removal from the investigated C-Si codeposits was significantly reduced comparatively. This reduced removal behaviour was found to follow closely with that observed for B-C codeposits from the DIII-D tokamak. This suggests that hydrogen removal via thermo-oxidation, where a non-carbon inclusion is known to form a stable oxide, is unlikely to be effective.