Abstract
Radiation tolerance is determined by how effectively the microstructure can remove point defects produced by irradiation. Engineered nanocrystalline SiC with a high-density of stacking faults (SFs) has significantly enhanced recombination of interstitials and vacancies, leading to self-healing of irradiation-induced defects. While single crystal SiC readily undergoes an irradiation-induced crystalline to amorphous transformation at room temperature, the nano-engineered SiC with a high-density of SFs exhibits more than an order of magnitude increase in radiation resistance. Molecular dynamics simulations of collision cascades show that the nano-layered SFs lead to enhanced mobility of interstitial Si atoms. The remarkable radiation resistance in the nano-engineered SiC is attributed to the high-density of SFs within nano-sized grain structures that significantly enhance point defect annihilation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 13429-13436 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 38 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 14 2012 |