The capillarity equation at the nanoscale: Gas bubbles in metals

Journal Article · Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Acta Materialia

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2015.01.048· OSTI ID:1369975

Caro, A. ^[1]; Schwen, D. ^[1]; Hetherly, J. ^[1]; Martinez, E. ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Here, we explore the modifications to the Young–Laplace capillarity equation needed to describe nanoscale gas bubbles embedded in metals, scale at which the finite width of the interface region cannot be neglected. We focus specifically on the case of He in Fe. Using both, the concept of Tolman’s length that provides a curvature dependence for the interface energy, and a new equation of state for He at the nanoscale that accounts for interface effects (see Caro et al., 2013), we derive an expression to predict pressure, and from it density and the amount of He in nanoscale bubbles. We find that conditions for equilibrium are found for values of pressure or density at variance by a factor of ~2 compared to the traditional way of using the capillarity equation and a bulk He EOS.

• Research Organization: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Materials at Irradiation and Mechanical Extremes (CMIME)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: 2008LANL1026
• OSTI ID: 1369975
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1255335
• Journal Information: Acta Materialia, Vol. 89, Issue C; Related Information: CMIME partners with Los Alamos National Laboratory (lead); Carnegie Mellon University; University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Nebraska; ISSN 1359-6454
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Capillarity equation
Helium bubbles Fe
Nanoscale effects
Tolman’s length