Microstructure of oxide insulator coating before and after thermal cycling test

Erbium oxide (Er₂O₃) was shown to be a high potential candidate for tritium permeation barrier and electrical insulator coating for advanced breeding blanket systems such as liquid Li, Li-Pb or molten-salt blankets. Recently, we succeeded to form Er₂O₃ coating layer on large interior surface area of metal pipe using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) process. In this paper, we investigated the microstructure of Er₂O₃ coating layer on stainless steel 316 (SUS 316) plate before and after heat treatments with hydrogen or argon gases. From the results of TEM observations, we confirmed that Er₂O₃ coating layer with 700 nm thickness was formed on the SUS 316 plate and this layer was identified to poly-crystal phase because the diffraction fleck which was arranged like a ring was observed in the selected electron diffraction pattern. No macroscopic defects such as crack and peeling in Er₂O₃ coating layer were observed before and after thermal cycling test. The change of microstructure of the Er₂O₃ coating layer on before and after heat cycling test was reported.