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Title: Does sink efficiency unequivocally characterize how grain boundaries impact radiation damage?

Journal Article · · Physical Review Materials

The role of grain boundaries in limiting irradiation damage in nanocrystalline materials is often correlated with the grain boundary sink efficiency. Here, we demonstrate on a tungsten material system (which has very distinct vacancy and interstitial mobilities) that sink efficiency does not unequivocally describe how grain boundaries impact irradiation damage. Rather, it reflects a particular defect diffusion equation that can change if any of the bulk conditions change. Even when denuded zone formation does not occur and grain boundaries have zero sink efficiencies, grain boundaries still impact the performance of nanocrystalline materials under irradiation by acting as a saturable defect storage site. However, denuded zone formation can occur under a necessary requirement of extra defect recombination at the grain boundaries (which, for example, is not possible when vacancy migration does not occur). These insights provide answers to several outstanding questions regarding the sink efficiency of a grain boundary and assist in parametrizing the role of grain boundaries in limiting irradiation damage in nanocrystalline materials.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1511606
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--18-26334
Journal Information:
Physical Review Materials, Journal Name: Physical Review Materials Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 2; ISSN PRMHAR; ISSN 2475-9953
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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