Radiation-induced crystalline-to-amorphous transition in intermetallic compounds of the Cu-Ti alloy system

Conference · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5575003

Lam, N Q; Okamoto, P R; Devanathan, R ^[1]; Sabochick, M J ^[2]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
2. Gulf States Utilities Co., Beaumont, TX (United States). Computer Applications Div.

Recent progress in molecular-dynamics studies of radiation-induced crystalline-to-amorphous transition in the ordered intermetallic compounds of the Cu-Ti system is discussed. The effect of irradiation was simulated by the generation of Frenkel pairs,which resulted in both the formation of stable point defects and chemical disorder upon defect recombination. The thermodynamic, structural and mechanical responses of the compounds during irradiation were determined by monitoring changes in the system potential energy, volume expansion, pair correlation function, diffraction patterns, and elastic constants. It was found that the intermetallics Cu{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}, CuTi, and CuTi{sub 2} could be rendered amorphous by the creation of Frenkel pairs, but Cu{sub 4}Ti could not, consistent with experimental observations during electron irradiation. However, the simulations showed that Cu{sub 4}Ti did become amorphous when clusters of Frenkel pairs were introduced, indicating that this compound may be susceptible to amorphization by heavy-ion bombardment. A generalization of the Lindemann criterion was used to develop a thermodynamic description of solid-state amorphization as a disorder- induced melting process.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5575003
• Report Number(s): ANL/CP-75586; CONF-911003--24; ON: DE92010276
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360102 -- Metals & Alloys-- Structure & Phase Studies
360106* -- Metals & Alloys-- Radiation Effects
ALLOYS
AMORPHOUS STATE
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COPPER ALLOYS
COPPER BASE ALLOYS
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
FRENKEL DEFECTS
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
IRRADIATION
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
POINT DEFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
SIMULATION
TITANIUM ALLOYS
VACANCIES