Arc erosion of full metal plasma facing components at the inner baffle region of ASDEX Upgrade

At the inner baffle of the AUG divertor massive polished inserts of tungsten and P92 steel were installed to measure the erosion by arcing. For tungsten most of the traces are less than 0.4µm deep and a similar amount of tungsten is deposited close to the traces. Few craters up to 4µm resulting in an average erosion rate of 2×1013 at cm−2s−1 are observed. The behaviour for P92 steel is quite different: most of the traces are 4µm deep, up to 80µm were observed. An average erosion rate of 400×1013 at cm−2s−1, i.e. more than a factor of hundred higher compared to tungsten, is found. Therefore, erosion by arcing has to be taken into account to determine the optimal material mix for future fusion devices.