Abstract
The growth kinetics of (0 0 1) [0 0 1] interstitial loops in bcc Fe is studied by phase-field modeling. The effect of defect (vacancy/interstitial) concentration, generation, recombination, sink strength, and elastic interaction on the growth kinetics of interstitial loops is systematically simulated. Results show that the elastic interaction between the defects and interstitial loops speeds up the growth kinetics and affects the morphology of the interstitial loops. Linear growth rate, i.e., the loop average radius is linear to time, under both aging and irradiation are predicted, which is in agreement with experimental observation. The results also show that the interstitial loop growth rate, which is directly related to the sink strength of the interstitial loop for interstitials, increases linearly with the initial interstitial concentration during aging while changing logarithmically with the interstitial generation rate under irradiation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 259-267 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
| Volume | 427 |
| Issue number | 1-3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This research was supported by the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Program in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), which is operated by Battelle Memorial Institute for the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-76RL01830. Drs. Hu and Henager would also like to acknowledge the support by Identification of Damage Signatures in Advanced Reactor Materials, a Laboratory Directed Research Development (LDRD) project at PNNL.