Spatial ordering of nano-dislocation loops in ion-irradiated materials

Abstract

Defect microstructures formed in ion-irradiated metals, for example iron or tungsten, often exhibit patterns of spatially ordered nano-scale dislocation loops. We show that such ordered dislocation loop structures may form spontaneously as a result of Brownian motion of loops, biased by the angular-dependent elastic interaction between the loops. Patterns of spatially ordered loops form once the local density of loops produced by ion irradiation exceeds a critical threshold value.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Dislocation interaction with C in alpha-Fe: a comparison between atomic simulations and elasticity theory
• Effects of Irradiation Temperature and Dose Rate on the Mechanical Properties of Self-Ion Implanted Fe and Fe-Cr Alloys

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• Non-destructive study of collision cascade damage in self-ion irradiated tungsten using HR-EBSD and ECCI
• Simulated TEM imaging of a heavily irradiated metal
• Hybrid mean field and real space model for vacancy diffusion-mediated annealing of radiation defects