Deuterium Removal from EK-181 Steel by Plasma Irradiation

In the present work, we investigated the isotopic replacement of deuterium with protium in EK‑181 steel under plasma irradiation. Samples were sequentially irradiated with deuterium and hydrogen plasma to a fluence of 1 × 1025 at/m2 at 473 K with a bias voltage of −100 V. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) analysis of the deuterium retention in the samples before and after exposure to H plasma showed that, after H plasma irradiation, the amount of deuterium, as determined from desorption of HD and D2 during the analysis, decreased by approximately a factor of 25. It is shown that protium‑for‑deuterium (H–D) isotopic exchange under plasma irradiation is a more effective method for removing deuterium from EK‑181 steel than vacuum annealing.