Research progress and trend of advanced tungsten composite modification used for plasma facing materials

Fusion energy is one of the effective ways to solve the energy crisis in the future, but the plasma-facing materials (PFMs) face the serious radiation and thermal shock damage from the plasma in the fusion reactor. At present, the pure tungsten is considered as the most promising PFM candidate materials because of the high thermal conductivity, good high-temperature strength, low sputtering, and low vapor pressure. Pure tungsten has the serious brittleness risk under the fusion reactor condition, so the modification of the advanced tungsten materials for PFMs has become the research hotspot in recent years. The modification methods of tungsten matrix composite include alloying, second phase strengthening, fiber reinforcement, and composite toughening. In this paper, the modification methods and performance of the tungsten matrix composites as PFMs used in the nuclear fusion reactors at home and abroad in recent years were reviewed, the modification mechanism of tungsten matrix composites was analyzed and summarized, and the development direction of tungsten matrix composites as PFMs was prospected.