Study of defect evolution by TEM with in situ ion irradiation and coordinated modeling

The paper describes a novel transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiment with in situ ion irradiation designed to improve and validate a computer model. TEM thin foils of molybdenum were irradiated in situ by 1?MeV Kr ions up to ～0.045 displacements per atom (dpa) at 80°C at three dose rates ?5?×?10^?6, 5?×?10^?5, and 5?×?10^?4?dpa/s – at the Argonne IVEM-Tandem Facility. The low-dose experiments produced visible defect structure in dislocation loops, allowing accurate, quantitative measurements of defect number density and size distribution. Weak beam dark-field plane-view images were used to obtain defect density and size distribution as functions of foil thickness, dose, and dose rate. Diffraction contrast electron tomography was performed to image defect clusters through the foil thickness and measure their depth distribution. A spatially dependent cluster dynamic model was developed explicitly to model the damage by 1?MeV Kr ion irradiation in an Mo thin foil with temporal and spatial dependence of defect distribution. The set of quantitative data of visible defects was used to improve and validate the computer model. It was shown that the thin foil thickness is an important variable in determining the defect distribution. This additional spatial dimension allowed direct comparison between the model and experiments of defect structures. The defect loss to the surfaces in an irradiated thin foil was modeled successfully. TEM with in situ ion irradiation of Mo thin foils was also explicitly designed to compare with neutron irradiation data of the identical material that will be used to validate the model developed for thin foils.     

Athermal migration of vacancies in iron and copper induced by electron irradiation

Abstract

Irradiation with high-energy particles induces athermal migration of point defects, which affects defect reactions at low temperatures where thermal migration is negligible. We conducted molecular dynamics simulations of vacancy migration in iron and copper driven by recoil energies under electron irradiation in a high-voltage electron microscope. Minimum kinetic energy required for migration was about 0.8 and 1.0 eV in iron and copper at 20 K, which was slightly higher than the activation energy for vacancy migration. Around the minimum energy, the migration succeeded only when a first nearest neighbour (1NN) atom received the kinetic energy towards the vacancy. The migration was induced by higher kinetic energies even with larger deflection angles. Above several electron-volts and a few 10s of electron-volts, vacancies migrated directly to 2NN and 3NN sites, respectively. Vacancy migration had complicated directional dependence at higher kinetic energies through multiple collisions and replacement of atoms. The probability of vacancy migration increased with the kinetic energy and remained around 0.3–0.5 jumps per recoil event for 20–100 eV. At higher temperatures, thermal energies slightly increased the probability for kinetic energies less than 1.5 eV. The cross section of vacancy migration was 3040 and 2940 barns for 1NN atoms in iron and copper under irradiation with 1.25 MV electrons at 20 K: the previous result was overestimated by about five times.     

Crystal plasticity modeling of irradiation growth in Zircaloy-2

Abstract

A physically based reaction-diffusion model is implemented in the visco-plastic self-consistent (VPSC) crystal plasticity framework to simulate irradiation growth in hcp Zr and its alloys. The reaction-diffusion model accounts for the defects produced by the cascade of displaced atoms, their diffusion to lattice sinks and the contribution to crystallographic strain at the level of single crystals. The VPSC framework accounts for intergranular interactions and irradiation creep, and calculates the strain in the polycrystalline ensemble. A novel scheme is proposed to model the simultaneous evolution of both, number density and radius, of irradiation-induced dislocation loops directly from experimental data of dislocation density evolution during irradiation. This framework is used to predict the irradiation growth behaviour of cold-worked Zircaloy-2 and trends compared to available experimental data. The role of internal stresses in inducing irradiation creep is discussed. Effects of grain size, texture and external stress on the coupled irradiation growth and creep behaviour are also studied and compared with available experimental data.     

Rates of diffusion controlled reactions for one-dimensionally-moving species in 3D space

ABSTRACT

The asymmetry in diffusion dimensionality between self-interstitial atom (SIA) clusters and vacancies is a fundamental feature of irradiation damage in crystals, leading to a defect buildup imbalance that manifests itself as measurable dimensional and mechanical property changes. It is well known that, while vacancies and mobile vacancy clusters diffuse in a three-dimensional (3D) fashion, SIA clusters perform one-dimensional motion along mostly rectilinear trajectories. Despite this, a complete set of kinetic coefficients, including coagulation reaction rates and sink strengths, does not exist for 1D-moving objects. In this paper, we derive analytical expressions for these coefficients from continuum diffusion theory particularised to 1D motion. Moreover, we carry out kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of numerical replicas of the geometry of diffusing particles and sinks to validate the proposed solutions. Our simulations, which are conducted entirely independently from the analytical derivations, reveal excellent agreement with the proposed expressions, adding confidence to their validity. We compare the 1D and 3D cases and discuss their relevance for kinetic codes for damage accumulation calculations.     

Neutron irradiation effects on magnetic minor hysteresis loops in nuclear reactor pressure vessel steels

Magnetic minor hysteresis loops have been measured on A533B-type nuclear reactor pressure vessel steels with various combinations of Cu and Ni contents after neutron irradiation to a fluence up to 3.32 × 10¹⁹ n cm^?2. A strong compositional dependence of minor-loop properties, which are indicators of internal stress, was found. The properties of high-Cu and high-Ni steel show a large increase in the low fluence regime below 0.4 × 10¹⁹ n cm^?2, followed by a slow decrease, while those for low-Cu or low-Ni steel show a sudden decrease. The changes are roughly in linear proportion to the yield strength changes. The results were explained from the viewpoint of the formation and growth of Cu-rich precipitates and/or fine scale defects in the matrix and along pre-existing dislocations.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of the interaction between a mixed dislocation and a stacking fault tetrahedron

A high number-density of nanometer-sized stacking fault tetrahedra are commonly found during irradiation of low stacking fault energy metals. The stacking fault tetrahedra act as obstacles to dislocation motion leading to increased yield strength and decreased ductility. Thus, an improved understanding of the interaction between gliding dislocations and stacking fault tetrahedra are critical to reliably predict the mechanical properties of irradiated materials. Many studies have investigated the interaction of a screw or edge dislocation with a stacking fault tetrahedron (SFT). However, atomistic studies of a mixed dislocation interaction with an SFT are not available, even though mixed dislocations are the most common. In this paper, molecular dynamics simulation results of the interaction between a mixed dislocation and an SFT in face-centered cubic copper are presented. The interaction results in shearing, partial absorption, destabilization or simple bypass of the SFT, depending on the interaction geometry. However, the SFT was not completely annihilated, absorbed or collapsed during a single interaction with a mixed dislocation. These observations, combined with simulation results of edge or screw dislocations, suggest that defect-free channel formation in irradiated copper is not likely by a single dislocation sweeping or destruction process, but rather by a complex mix of multiple shearing, partial absorption and defect cluster transportation that ultimately reduces the size of stacking fault tetrahedra within a localized region.     

强脉冲X射线辐照在Si-SiO2中感生的界面态及退火消除

 利用强脉冲X射线对Si-SiO₂界面进行了辐照，测量了界面态曲线和退火曲线。实验显示，经过强脉冲X射线对Si-SiO₂界面进行的辐照，在Si-SiO₂界面感生出新的界面态，感生界面态的增加与辐照剂量成正比，并且易出现饱和现象。总结出了感生界面态密度产额Dit随辐照剂量D变化的分布式，并定性分析了Dit随D变化的行为。随后进行的退火实验表明，强脉冲X射线辐照感生出的界面态越多，退火时这些界面态就消除得越快。退火过程显示有滞后现象，即辐照剂量大的阈电压漂移，在退火后恢复的绝对值，要小于辐照剂量小的阈电压漂移。导出了阈电压漂移随退火时间变化的关系，定性解释了滞后现象。     

Atom probe tomography analysis of radiation-induced solute clustering in austenite stainless steels

Various types of defects are produced by the irradiation of energetic particles onto a structural material. The large number of mobile vacancies and self-interstitial atoms during irradiation induce defect fluxes and the diffusion of solute atoms in the matrix. The preferential interaction between the solute atoms and radiation-induced defects leads to the enrichment/depletion or clustering of the solutes at defect sinks. In the current work, atom probe tomography (APT) was used for the analysis of radiation-induced solute clustering in ion-irradiated austenite stainless steel 316. Quantitative analysis of the localised clustering of chemical elements was implemented and a parameter selection procedure was proposed. The number density and size distribution of Si clusters in APT specimens irradiated at various temperatures were examined. At high temperature, the number density of the clusters decreased and their size increased. The localized Si atoms in variously shaped defects were clearly identified. The APT method was demonstrated to be suitable for identifying defect structures and for the quantitative analysis of clustering in irradiated specimens.     

An optical study of the D-D neutron irradiation-induced defects in Co-and Cu-doped ZnO wafers

Room-temperature photoluminescence and optical transmittance spectroscopy of Co-doped(1×1014,5×1016,and 1×1017cm-2) and Cu-doped(5×1016cm-2) ZnO wafers irradiated by D-D neutrons(fluence of 2.9×1010 cm-2) have been investigated.After irradiation,the Co or Cu metal and oxide clusters in doped ZnO wafers are dissolved,and the wu¨rtzite structure of ZnO substrate for each sample remains unchanged and keeps in high c-axis preferential orientation.The degree of irradiation-induced crystal disorder reflected from the absorption band tail parameter(E0) is far greater for doped ZnO than the undoped one.Under the same doping concentration,the Cu-doped ZnO wafer has much higher irradiation-induced disorder than the Co-doped one.Photoluminescence measurements indicate that the introduction rate of both the zinc vacancy and the zinc interstitial is much higher for the doped ZnO wafer with a high doping level than the undoped one.In addition,both crystal lattice distortion and defect complexes are suggested to be formed in doped ZnO wafers.Consequently,the Co-or Cu-doped ZnO wafer(especially with a high doping level) exhibits very low radiation hardness compared with the undoped one,and the Cu-doped ZnO wafer is much less radiation-hard than the Co-doped one.     

激光辐照下转动柱壳平均温度与破坏时间的工程估算

 推导了激光辐照下转动壳体平均温度沿壳体母线方向分布的解析公式。由于对高斯功率密度分布光束无法得到工程上实用的结果,对公式进行了解析拟合,仅由一个具有实际物理意义的拟合系数——分布因子确定了解析拟合公式的形式,明确了温度估算公式中各项的物理意义。解析拟合公式计算结果与数值模拟结果较为一致。作为温升估算方法的一个应用实例,推导了转动充压柱壳在激光辐照下破坏时间的解析公式,与数值计算结果吻合得较好。