Atomistic simulations of irradiation damage on the engineering timescale: Examining the dose rate effect in tungsten

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Boleininger, Max, Mason, Daniel R., Schwarz-Selinger, Thomas, Ma, Pui-Wai
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Boleininger, Max
Mason, Daniel R.
Schwarz-Selinger, Thomas
Ma, Pui-Wai
author_facet Boleininger, Max
Mason, Daniel R.
Schwarz-Selinger, Thomas
Ma, Pui-Wai
contents The change in materials properties subjected to irradiation by highly energetic particles strongly depends on the irradiation dose rate. Atomistic simulations can in principle be used to predict microstructural evolution where experimental data is sparse or unavailable, however, fundamental limitations of the method make it infeasible to replicate the experimental timescale spanning from seconds to hours. Here, we present an atomistic simulation method where the motion of vacancies is accelerated, while the fast degrees of freedom are propagated with standard molecular dynamics. The resulting method is free of adjustable parameters and can predict microstructural evolution under irradiation at elevated temperatures. Simulating the microstructural evolution of tungsten under irradiation at dose rates of $10^{-5}$, $10^{-4}$, and $10^{-3}$ dpa/second, we find that increasing the temperature or reducing the dose rate primarily results in a reduction of the steady-state defect concentration, in qualitative agreement with deuterium retention and post-irradiation resistivity recovery experiments. The formation of a nanoscale void is observed if a system initially containing a large dislocation loop is irradiated. We present a minimally simple rate theory model which reproduces the time-dependent defect concentration and volume swelling behaviour obtained from the simulations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_18471
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Atomistic simulations of irradiation damage on the engineering timescale: Examining the dose rate effect in tungsten
Boleininger, Max
Mason, Daniel R.
Schwarz-Selinger, Thomas
Ma, Pui-Wai
Materials Science
The change in materials properties subjected to irradiation by highly energetic particles strongly depends on the irradiation dose rate. Atomistic simulations can in principle be used to predict microstructural evolution where experimental data is sparse or unavailable, however, fundamental limitations of the method make it infeasible to replicate the experimental timescale spanning from seconds to hours. Here, we present an atomistic simulation method where the motion of vacancies is accelerated, while the fast degrees of freedom are propagated with standard molecular dynamics. The resulting method is free of adjustable parameters and can predict microstructural evolution under irradiation at elevated temperatures. Simulating the microstructural evolution of tungsten under irradiation at dose rates of $10^{-5}$, $10^{-4}$, and $10^{-3}$ dpa/second, we find that increasing the temperature or reducing the dose rate primarily results in a reduction of the steady-state defect concentration, in qualitative agreement with deuterium retention and post-irradiation resistivity recovery experiments. The formation of a nanoscale void is observed if a system initially containing a large dislocation loop is irradiated. We present a minimally simple rate theory model which reproduces the time-dependent defect concentration and volume swelling behaviour obtained from the simulations.
title Atomistic simulations of irradiation damage on the engineering timescale: Examining the dose rate effect in tungsten
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.18471