Vacancy clustering and prismatic dislocation loop formation in aluminum

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.76.180101· OSTI ID:21052759

Gavini, Vikram; Bhattacharya, Kaushik; Ortiz, Michael ^[1]

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1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

The formation of prismatic dislocation loops is an important factor leading to radiation damage of metals. However, the formation mechanism and the size of the smallest stable loop has remained unclear. In this Rapid Communication, we use electronic structure calculations with millions of atoms to address this problem in aluminum. Our results show that there is a cascade of larger and larger vacancy clusters with smaller and smaller energy. Further, the results show that a seven vacancy cluster on the (111) plane can collapse into a stable prismatic loop. This supports the long-standing hypothesis that vacancy clustering leads to a prismatic loop, and that these loops can be stable at extremely small sizes. Finally our results show that it is important to conduct calculations using realistic concentrations (computational cell size) to obtain physically meaningful results.

• OSTI ID: 21052759
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 76; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ALUMINIUM
CRYSTALS
DISLOCATIONS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
RADIATION EFFECTS
VACANCIES