The role of atomic structure on grain boundary-defect interactions in Cu

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

OSTI ID:1045500

Bai, Xian-Ming; Vernon, Louis J; Hoagland, Richard G; Voter, Arthur F; Nastasi, Michael; Uberuaga, Blas Pedro

We investigate the role that the atomic structure of grain boundaries in Cu has in the interaction with point defects produced during irradiation. We focus on three aspects of defect-boundary interaction: how defects interact with pristine boundaries, how boundaries modify defect production during collision cascades, and how defects interact with damaged boundaries. We find that there are generic features common to most boundaries, including biased absorption of interstitials over vacancies during collision cascades and strong interactions with vacancies for interstitial-loaded boundaries. However, we find that the magnitude of these behaviors depends strongly on the atomic structure of the boundary. In particular, the biased absorption is much stronger for a high angle twist boundary and smallest for a more general twist-asymmetric tilt boundary. Further, the strength of defect-boundary interactions is also sensitive to the boundary structure. We conclude that the sink strength of grain boundaries for interacting with point defects is not an intrinsic property of the boundary but rather depends on the irradiation condition through the absorbed defect content at the boundary.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - SC
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1045500
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-12-24646
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 21 Vol. 85; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ABSORPTION
Computer modeling of radiation damage near grain b
DEFECTS
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
INTERSTITIALS
IRRADIATION
POINT DEFECTS
PRODUCTION
STRONG INTERACTIONS
VACANCIES