Nanotube/Nanowire as Effective Defect Sinks in Metals—Atomistic Simulations and In Situ Ion Radiation Transmission Electron Microscopy
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sungkyunkwan University
- Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sungkyunkwan Univ., Suwon (Republic of Korea)
The accumulation of defects during irradiation leads to material property degradation modes such as embrittlement and swelling, eventually causing material failure. Effective and efficient removal of defects is of crucial importance to design radiation damage-tolerant materials. Here, by biasing defect migration pathways via carbon nanotube (CNT) infiltration, we present a greatly enhanced damage-tolerant Al-CNT composite with defect storage measured to be one order of magnitude lower than that in pure, irradiated Al. Furthermore, extreme-value statistics (largest size) of defect clusters are significantly changed in the presence of CNT. In situ ion irradiation transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments and atomistic simulations together reveal the dynamic evolution and convergent diffusion of radiation-induced defects to CNTs, facilitating defect recombination and enhancing radiation tolerance. The occurrence of CNT-biased defect convergent migration is tuned by the thermodynamic driving force of stress gradient in Al matrix due to the CNT phase transformation. This approach to controlling defect migration using 1D interface engineering creates a new opportunity to enhance the properties of nuclear materials.
- Research Organization:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- NE0008827
- OSTI ID:
- 1481900
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Materials Research Society , Boston, November 25-30, 2018
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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