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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(24)2382022
At temperatures below the onset of vacancy migration, metals exposed to energetic ions develop dynamically fluctuating steady-state microstructures. Statistical properties of these microstructures in the asymptotic high exposure limit are not universal and vary depending on the energy and mass of the incident ions. We develop a model for the micros…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(23)1312022
We derive a simple analytical line integral expression for the relaxation volume tensor of an arbitrary interconnected dislocation network. This quantity determines the magnitude of dislocation contribution to the dimensional changes and volumetric swelling of a material, and highlights the fundamental dual role of dislocations as sources of intern…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(22)072022
Self-ion irradiation of pure tungsten with 2 MeV W ions provides a way of simulating microstructures generated by neutron irradiation in tungsten components of a fusion reactor. Electron microscopy has been used to characterize defects formed in tungsten samples by ion irradiation and estimate their density and size distribution. Some of the sample…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(21)842021
The changing thermal conductivity of an irradiated material is among the principal design considerations for any nuclear reactor, but at present few models are capable of predicting these changes starting from an arbitrary atomistic model. Here we present a simple model for computing the thermal diffusivity of tungsten, based on the conductivity…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(21)562021
Hydrogen isotopes are retained in materials for fusion power applications, changing both hydrogen embrittlement and tritium inventory as the microstructure undergoes irradiation damage. But modelling of the highly damaged regime – over 0.1 displacements per atom (dpa) – where asymptotic saturation is observed, is difficult because a highly dama…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(21)332021
Prediction of material performance in fusion reactor environments relies on computational modelling, and will continue to do so until the first generation of fusion power plants come on line and allow long-term behaviour to be observed. In the meantime, the modelling is supported by experiments that attempt to replicate some aspects of the eventua…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(21)012021
The ability of a body-centered cubic metal to deform plastically is limited by the thermally activated glide motion of screw dislocations, which are line defects with a mobility exhibiting complex dependence on temperature, stress, and dislocation segment length. We derive an analytical expression for the velocity of dislocation glide, based on a s…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(20)1132020
Combining spatially resolved X-ray Laue diffraction with atomic-scale simulations, we observe how ion-irradiated tungsten undergoes a series of non-linear structural transformations with increasing irradiation exposure. Nanoscale defect-induced deformations accumulating above 0.02 displacements per atom (dpa) lead to highly fluctuating strains at ~…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(20)1082020
We performed ab initio density functional theory simulations of 1/2{111} interstitial dislocation loops, closed and open vacancy loops, {100} interstitial loops and voids in tungsten, using simulation cells involving from 2000 to 2700 atoms. The size of the loops transcends the microscopic scale and reaches the mesoscopic scale where as…
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UKAEA-CCFE-PR(20)722020
Self-ion bombardment of pure tungsten with ion energies of 2 MeV is used to mimic the defects created by neutrons in a fusion reactor. Electron microscopy is used to characterize the microstructure of samples. Thermal Desorption Spectrometry (TDS) is performed on deuterium implanted samples in order to estimate deuterium inventory as function of…
Showing 11 - 20 of 35 UKAEA Paper Results