Self-organization of cavities under irradiation

In the present paper two examples of self-organization in solids under irradiation are considered on the basis of original mechanisms, namely, the ordering of voids in void lattices under high temperature irradiation and the alignment of gas bubbles in bubble lattices under low-temperature gas atom implantation. The ordering of cavities (i.e. voids or gas bubbles) is proposed to arise due to a dissipative interaction between cavities induced by the interstitial dislocation loop absorption and punching, respectively, which represent anisotropic mechanisms of atomic transport.     

Formation of dislocation patterns under irradiation

The interaction energy between point defects and dislocation patterns (such as the pile-up of dislocation loops and the dislocation wall) is derived. The bias for interstitial absorption by a dislocation in a pattern is shown to be lower than that of an isolated dislocation. The dislocation patterning is proposed to be driven by the dependence of dislocation bias on the dislocation arrangement.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of defects production in the vicinity of voids

We report on the results of computer simulation of point defect production near voids in crystalline Cu at primary knock-on atom (PKA) kinetic energies ranging from 5 to 1000?eV. The PKA energy dependence of numbers of created defects are revealed. The threshold energy for a stable vacancy formation is found to be much smaller than that for an interstitial atom, which results in a biased formation of vacancies in the void proximity in the whole investigated range of PKA energies. Dissolution of small voids by subthreshold irradiation is simulated. The impact of considered radiation effects on kinetics of radiation damage is discussed.     

Plasticization of face-centered metals under electron irradiation

The effect exerted by an electron beam with an energy of 0.5 MeV on the deformation of polycrystalline aluminum (99.5%) and copper (99.5%) under uniaxial tension at a rate of 2 × 10^?4 s^?1 in the temperature range from 40 to 100°C has been investigated. It has been established that the plasticity of the metal increases under irradiation with an electron beam: the level of the flow stress and the strain hardening coefficient in the irradiated state decrease, whereas the total resource of plasticity of the material increases. A mechanism of an increase in the plasticity of metals has been proposed. This mechanism is based on the radiation-induced generation of nonlinear strongly localized excitations of the crystal lattice, namely, discrete breathers, whose lifetime is significantly longer than the relaxation time of phonons. The interaction of discrete breathers with dislocations can stimulate the detachment of dislocations from stoppers and, consequently, an increase in the plasticity of the material.     

Anisotropy and phase states of garnet ferrite films with misoriented surfaces

Anisotropy of garnet ferrite films is investigated in the framework of the two-parametric model. It is shown that a garnet ferrite film with an arbitrarily oriented surface is characterized by biaxial anisotropy. The directions of the easy, intermediate, and hard magnetization axes are determined as functions of the misorientation angle and weak cubic anisotropy. It is demonstrated that the region of existence of homogeneous states in a magnetic field is bounded by a slant astroid. The magnetic susceptibility tensor and the ferromagnetic resonance frequency are calculated, and the dispersion law of spin waves is determined.     

New mechanism of irradiation creep based on the radiation-induced vacancy emission from dislocations

A new mechanism of irradiation creep is proposed, which is based on the radiation and stress induced difference in emission (RSIDE) of vacancies from dislocations of different orientations with respect to the external stress. This phenomenon is due to the difference in vacancy formation energies, which is proportional to the external stress. The proposed model exhibits similarities with thermal creep models and it is distinct from stress-induced preferential absorption (SIPA) models based on the difference in the long-range interaction of point defects with dislocations. The RSIDE creep rate is essentially temperature independent and is proportional to the dislocation density, stress and irradiation flux. It is inversely proportional to the square of the vacancy formation energy, which is lower than the Frenkel pair formation energy. Experimental verification of the proposed model is discussed on the basis of the measurements of vacancy concentration and creep rate under sub-threshold electron irradiation.     

Kinetic mechanism of the electroplastic effect in metals

A new mechanism of electroplastic deformation is proposed, which is based on nonequilibrium fluctuations of dislocation vibrations due to the interaction between dislocations and hot electrons. It is shown that, when an electric current flows through a metal, the average energy of dislocation vibrations differs from that corresponding to the lattice temperature. As a result, the frequency of fluctuation-induced jumps of dislocations over obstacles increases.     

Dislocation vs. production bias revisited with account of radiation-induced emission bias. I. Void swelling under electron and light ion irradiation

Early experimental data on void swelling in electron-irradiated materials disagree with the dislocation bias models based on the dislocation-point defect elastic interactions. Later, this became one of the factors that prompted the development of models based on production bias (PBM) as the main driver for swelling, which assumed that the dislocation bias was much lower than that predicted by theoretical analyses of dislocation bias. However, the PBM in its present form fails to account for important and common observations, namely, the indefinite void growth often observed under cascade irradiation and the swelling saturation observed under high-dose irradiation and in void lattices. In this paper, we show that these contradictions can be naturally resolved in the framework of the rate theory that accounts for the radiation-induced vacancy emission from extended defects, such as voids, dislocations and grain boundaries. This modification introduces a new bias type in the theory, namely, the emission bias. This modified rate theory agrees well with the experimental data and demonstrates that the original dislocation bias should be used in rate theory models along with the emission bias in different irradiation environments. The modified theory predictions include, but are not limited to, the radiation-induced annealing of voids, swelling saturation under high-dose irradiation, generally, and in void lattices, in particular.     

Irradiation hardening of reactor pressure vessel steels due to the dislocation loop evolution

The irradiation hardening of reactor pressure vessel steels due to the formation of dislocation loops is analyzed. The analysis is based on the original model for the nucleation and subsequent evolution of dislocation loops in irradiated materials. The loop formation in displacement cascades is taken into account, along with the homogeneous clustering of point defects. The loop evolution is shown to contribute mainly to the athermal component of the yield stress, which is determined by interaction of gliding dislocations with strong barriers. Irradiation-induced hardening is evaluated as a function of irradiation dose and temperature, dose rate, material parameters and initial microstructure. The model results are compared with experimental data for neutron irradiated pressure vessel steels of various grades and with empirical low power expressions of the yield stress increase with increasing irradiation dose.     

Delocalized nonlinear vibrational modes of triangular lattices

Nonlinear Dynamics - All possible one- and two-component delocalized nonlinear vibrational modes (DNVMs) in triangular lattice are analyzed. DNVMs are obtained considering solely upon the symmetry...