Modeling defect cluster evolution in irradiated structural materials: Focus on comparing to high-resolution experimental
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Aaron Kohnert and Donghua Xu Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-2300, USA (Received 13 October 2014; accepted 8 January 2015)
It is well established that exposure of metallic structural materials to irradiation environments results in significant microstructural evolution, property changes, and performance degradation, which limits the extended operation of current generation light water reactors and restricts the design of advanced fission and fusion reactors. Further, it is well recognized that these irradiation effects are a classic example of inherently multiscale phenomena and that the mix of radiation-induced features formed and the corresponding property degradation depend on a wide range of material and irradiation variables. This inherently multiscale evolution emphasizes the importance of closely integrating models with high-resolution experimental characterization of the evolving radiation-damaged microstructure. This article provides a review of recent models of the defect microstructure evolution in irradiated body-centered cubic materials, which provide good agreement with experimental measurements, and presents some outstanding challenges, which will require coordinated high-resolution characterization and modeling to resolve.
I. INTRODUCTION
Exposure of metallic structural materials to irradiation environments results in significant microstructural evolution, property changes, and performance degradation, which limits the extended operation of current generation light water reactors and restricts the design of advanced fission and fusion reactors.1–8 This effect of irradiation on materials’ microstructure and properties is a classic example of an inherently multiscale phenomenon, as schematically illustrated in Fig. 1(a). Pertinent processes range from the atomic nucleus to structural component length scales, spanning more than 15 orders of magnitude. Time scales bridge more than 22 orders of magnitude, with the shortest being less than a femtosecond.1,8 Further, the mix of radiation-induced features formed and the corresponding property degradation depend on a wide range of material and irradiation variables. This emphasizes the importance of closely integrating models with highresolution experimental characterization of the evolving radiation-damaged microstructure, including measurements performed in situ during irradiation. In this article, we review some recent successes through the
Contributing Editor: William J. Weber a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2015.25 J. Mater. Res., 2015
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use of closely coordinated modeling and experimental studies of the defect cluster evolution in irradiated bodycentered cubic materials, followed by a discussion of outstanding challenges still to be addressed, which are necessary for the development of comprehensive models of radiation effects in structural materials. At the smallest scales (nanometer and p
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