Temperature and radiation effects on brittle versus ductile fracture behavior in miscible phase boundaries: insight from atomistic simulations

Dingreville, Rémi; Chen, Elton Y.; Deo, Chaitanya

doi:10.1007/s10704-020-00502-x

Temperature and radiation effects on brittle versus ductile fracture behavior in miscible phase boundaries: insight from atomistic simulations

Journal Article · Tue Jan 05 23:00:00 EST 2021 · International Journal of Fracture

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10704-020-00502-x· OSTI ID:1770341

^[1]; Chen, Elton Y. ^[2]; Deo, Chaitanya ^[3]

Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Temperature- and irradiation-assisted failure mechanisms in miscible phase boundaries are clarified via atomistic calculations. We first establish the temperature-dependent brittle-to-ductile transition in U–Zr miscible phase boundaries. Our results confirm that these boundaries are mostly brittle at low temperatures and ductile at elevated temperatures. We then investigate the changes induced by irradiation on the fracture mechanisms in such phase boundaries. The irradiation-induced defect accumulation follows a multi-stage process that starts with the accumulation of isolated small dislocation loops before transitioning to the saturation and growth of larger dislocation loops and end up with a reorganization into forest dislocations. The accumulation of loops is the primary feature to participate in the delineation between brittle and ductile interfacial fracture in irradiated phase boundaries. At low damage levels, radiation defect interactions with the crack tip are limited and U–Zr miscible boundaries fail through the emission of dislocations ahead of the crack tip followed by brittle cleavage in agreement with the classical Griffith’s criterion for crack stability. At higher damage levels, the failure mode transitions from brittle crack growth to ductile void growth. In this case, the microcrack tip is blunted by the high density of pre-existing, radiation-induced defects in the vicinity of the crack. This interaction leads to the development and growth of a cavity at the interface as opposed to interfacial cleavage.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1770341

Report Number(s):: SAND--2020-13235J; 692575

Journal Information:: International Journal of Fracture, Journal Name: International Journal of Fracture Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 228; ISSN 0376-9429

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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