Early Stages of Self-Healing at Tungsten Grain Boundaries from Ab Initio Machine Learning Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Suárez-Recio, Jorge, Piaggi, Pablo M., Domínguez-Gutiérrez, Francisco J., Gonzalez-Arrabal, Raquel, Iglesias, Roberto
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866912575256526848
author Suárez-Recio, Jorge
Piaggi, Pablo M.
Domínguez-Gutiérrez, Francisco J.
Gonzalez-Arrabal, Raquel
Iglesias, Roberto
author_facet Suárez-Recio, Jorge
Piaggi, Pablo M.
Domínguez-Gutiérrez, Francisco J.
Gonzalez-Arrabal, Raquel
Iglesias, Roberto
contents Nanostructured tungsten has been reported as a possible alternative plasma-facing material due to its potential ability to self-heal radiation-induced defects, a property that is attributed to its high density of grain boundaries (GB). Here, we study the initial stages of self-healing at tungsten interfaces with molecular dynamics simulations driven by a machine-learning interatomic potential tailored to one of the most common GBs found in experiments. Our model accurately reproduces the ab initio potential energy surface derived from density functional theory (DFT) calculations and outperforms previously reported empirical and machine learning interatomic potentials in predicting defect energetics. The simulations reveal low-temperature defect migration to GBs driven by rapid dumbbell-like ordering and subsequent accommodation along GB grooves. In contrast to empirical potentials, which predict unexpected GB degradation at high temperatures after defect migration, our model maintains stable GB motifs over the investigated temperature range. The temperature-dependent defect counts, evaluated using an Arrhenius-like fit, yield an average interstitial migration energy of 0.048 eV, in agreement with experiment. This work underscores the capabilities of ab initio machine learning simulations in accurately modeling defect-GB interactions and highlights their potential to contribute to the development of radiation tolerant materials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_13744
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Early Stages of Self-Healing at Tungsten Grain Boundaries from Ab Initio Machine Learning Simulations
Suárez-Recio, Jorge
Piaggi, Pablo M.
Domínguez-Gutiérrez, Francisco J.
Gonzalez-Arrabal, Raquel
Iglesias, Roberto
Materials Science
Computational Physics
Nanostructured tungsten has been reported as a possible alternative plasma-facing material due to its potential ability to self-heal radiation-induced defects, a property that is attributed to its high density of grain boundaries (GB). Here, we study the initial stages of self-healing at tungsten interfaces with molecular dynamics simulations driven by a machine-learning interatomic potential tailored to one of the most common GBs found in experiments. Our model accurately reproduces the ab initio potential energy surface derived from density functional theory (DFT) calculations and outperforms previously reported empirical and machine learning interatomic potentials in predicting defect energetics. The simulations reveal low-temperature defect migration to GBs driven by rapid dumbbell-like ordering and subsequent accommodation along GB grooves. In contrast to empirical potentials, which predict unexpected GB degradation at high temperatures after defect migration, our model maintains stable GB motifs over the investigated temperature range. The temperature-dependent defect counts, evaluated using an Arrhenius-like fit, yield an average interstitial migration energy of 0.048 eV, in agreement with experiment. This work underscores the capabilities of ab initio machine learning simulations in accurately modeling defect-GB interactions and highlights their potential to contribute to the development of radiation tolerant materials.
title Early Stages of Self-Healing at Tungsten Grain Boundaries from Ab Initio Machine Learning Simulations
topic Materials Science
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.13744