Softening due to Grain Boundary Cavity Formation and its Competition with Hardening in Helium Implanted Nanocrystalline Tungsten

Cunningham, W. Streit; Gentile, Jonathan M.; El-Atwani, Osman; Taylor, Chase N.; Efe, Mert; Maloy, Stuart A.; Trelewicz, Jason R.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20990-1

Title: Softening due to Grain Boundary Cavity Formation and its Competition with Hardening in Helium Implanted Nanocrystalline Tungsten

Journal Article · Tue Feb 13 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20990-1· OSTI ID:1423975

Cunningham, W. Streit ^[1]; Gentile, Jonathan M. ^[1]; El-Atwani, Osman ^[2];

^[3]; Efe, Mert ^[4]; Maloy, Stuart A. ^[2];

^[1]

Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Middle East Technical Univ., Ankara (Turkey)

The unique ability of grain boundaries to act as effective sinks for radiation damage plays a significant role in nanocrystalline materials due to their large interfacial area per unit volume. Leveraging this mechanism in the design of tungsten as a plasma-facing material provides a potential pathway for enhancing its radiation tolerance under fusion-relevant conditions. In this study, we explore the impact of defect microstructures on the mechanical behavior of helium ion implanted nanocrystalline tungsten through nanoindentation. Softening was apparent across all implantation temperatures and attributed to bubble/cavity loaded grain boundaries suppressing the activation barrier for the onset of plasticity via grain boundary mediated dislocation nucleation. An increase in fluence placed cavity induced grain boundary softening in competition with hardening from intragranular defect loop damage, thus signaling a new transition in the mechanical behavior of helium implanted nanocrystalline tungsten.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

OSTI ID:: 1423975

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-26895

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 27 works

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