Role of interfaces i nthe design of ultra-high strength, radiation damage tolerant nanocomposites
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- NON LANL
The combination of high strength and high radiation damage tolerance in nanolaminate composites can be achieved when the individual layers in these composites are only a few nanometers thick and contain special interfaces that act both as obstacles to slip, as well as sinks for radiation-induced defects. The morphological and phase stabilities and strength and ductility of these nano-composites under ion irradiation are explored as a function of layer thickness, temperature and interface structure. Magnetron sputtered metallic multilayers such as Cu-Nb and V-Ag with a range of individual layer thickness from approximately 2 nm to 50 nm and the corresponding 1000 nm thick single layer films were implanted with helium ions at room temperature. Cross-sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used to measure the distribution of helium bubbles and correlated with the helium concentration profile measured vis ion beam analysis techniques to obtain the helium concentration at which bubbles are detected in TEM. It was found that in multilayers the minimum helium concentration to form bubbles (approximately I nm in size) that are easily resolved in through-focus TEM imaging was several atomic %, orders of magnitude higher than that in single layer metal films. This observation is consistent with an increased solubility of helium at interfaces that is predicted by atomistic modeling of the atomic structures of fcc-bcc interfaces. At helium concentrations as high as 7 at.%, a uniform distribution of I nm diameter bubbles results in negligible irradiation hardening and loss of deformability in multi layers with layer thicknesses of a few nanometers. The control of atomic structures of interfaces to produce high helium solubility at interfaces is crucial in the design of nano-composite materials that are radiation damage tolerant. Reduced radiation damage also leads to a reduction in the irradiation hardening, particularly at layer thickness of approximately 5 run and below. The strategies for design of radiation-tolerant structural materials based on the knowledge gained from this work will be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1043478
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-08194; LA-UR-10-8194; TRN: US201214%%34
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Plasticity 2011 ; January 2, 2011 ; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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