Monte Carlo simulations of W-Re alloys under helium ion bombardment

Abstract Based on the Monte Carlo simulation method, this study used the SDTrimSP software to explore the sputtering and vacancy distribution of W 1 − x Re x (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25) alloys with (110), (100), and (111) surfaces under helium ion bombardment. Since the surface binding energy in the SDTrimSP software is replaced by cohesive energy, this causes certain difference. So we used LAMMPS to re-scan the surface binding energy of three crystal planes with an index of one at different W-Re alloy ratios to enhance computational accuracy. Subsequently we input this value into the SDTrimSP software to compute the sputtering and vacancy under different incident energies and angles. The results show that (110) crystal plane has the smallest sputtering yield which is related to the surface binding energy. With the increasing concentration of Re atoms in the alloys, the sputtering yield of W-Re alloy linearly increases. Compared with pure W, the difference in sputtering yields and vacancies of W-Re alloys in three crystal planes are not significant. These findings can be valuable when selecting materials for plasma-facing applications in fusion reactor design.