The realisation of fusion energy depends on the development of advanced materials for challenging environments. Rapid screening of prototype alloys using magnetron sputtering and high throughput characterisation is currently being applied to candidate W alloys with improved mechanical performance, reduced activation and tolerance to damage from neutron irradiation. Delamination of these films is a barrier to the application of this approach. In this study, delamination of W films was determined to be a result of high compressive residual stresses, and inadequate adhesion to the Si substrate. It was found that using a Ti or Cr interfacial layer increases adhesion, something that was strongly supported by interface W/Cr studies from first-principles calculations based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT). It is shown for all configurations that the interface binding energies between W and Cr are attractive with the W(110)/Cr(110) is predicted to be the most stable with a higher adhesive energy.