We study the influence of the atomic structure in the vicinity of voids on their growth rate anisotropy. In the first part, we model the atomic structure in the vicinity of nanovoids in Fe and W using the advanced Molecular Statics method. In the second part, we use the earlier obtained equations that taking the influence of elastic fields into account to calculate the shifting rate of the void surface elements, and to evaluate the components of the strain tensor we use the atomic structure modeling results from the first part. The calculations are performed for voids of several sizes at certain oversaturation's in a wide temperature range. The simulation results for the mentioned metals with a bcc structure show that displacements of atoms located along the crystallographic directions of the 100, 110, 111 types in the vicinity of the voids are significantly different, and this anisotropy of atom displacements leads to a reduction of spherical symmetry for the shifting rate of the surface elements. As the result, the initially spherical void shape becomes faceted.
We use atomistic simulations to investigate grain boundary (GB) phase transitions in el- emental body-centered cubic (bcc) metal tungsten. Motivated by recent modeling study of grain boundary phase transitions in [100] symmetric tilt boundaries in face-centered cu- bic (fcc) copper, we perform a systematic investigation of [100] and [110] symmetric tilt high-angle and low-angle boundaries in bcc tungsten. The structures of these boundaries have been investigated previously by atomistic simulations in several different bcc metals including tungsten using the the γ-surface method, which has limi…
The process of fracture in ductile metals involves the nucleation, growth, and linking of voids. This process takes place both at the low rates involved in typical engineering applications and at the high rates associated with dynamic fracture processes such as spallation. Here we study the growth of a void in a single crystal at high rates using molecular dynamics (MD) based on Finnis-Sinclair interatomic potentials for the body-centred cubic (bcc) metals V, Nb, Mo, Ta, and W. The use of the Finnis-Sinclair potential enables the study of plasticity associated with void growth at the atomic le…
The interplay of screw dislocations with carbon atoms is investigated in tungsten at high temperature using in situ straining experiments in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and through ab initio calculations. When the temperature is high enough to activate carbon diffusion, above 1373 K, carbon segregates in the core of screw dislocations and modifies their mobility, even for a carbon concentration as low as 1 appm. TEM observations reveal the reappearance of a Peierls mechanism at these high temperatures, with screw dislocations gliding viscously through nucleation and propagation of…
The interaction between carbon and screw dislocations in tungsten is investigated using ab initio calculations. The presence of carbon atoms in the vicinity of the dislocation induces a reconstruction, with the dislocation relaxing to a configuration, the hard core structure, which is unstable in pure tungsten. The reconstruction corresponds to a strong binding of carbon in the prismatic sites created by the dislocation which is perfect for high concentrations of carbon segregated on the dislocation line. However, the reconstruction is only partial for lower atomic fractions, with the dislocat…
We show that voids adjacent to radiation damage cascades can be moved in their entirety by several lattice spacings. This is done using molecular dynamics cascade simulations in iron at energies of 1-5 keV. The effect of this mechanism is studied further using an OKMC code and shows enhancement of void diffusion by 2 orders of magnitude from 1x10^-22 cm^2/s to 3x10^-20 cm^2/s. Repeating the study on He bubbles shows that the movement is damped by the presence of helium in the void.
We simulate structure in the vicinity of different size nanovoids using a new variant of the Molecular Statics, wherein atomic structure in the vicinity of nanovoids and the parameters that define the displacements of atoms placed in elastic continuum around main computation cell are determined in a self-consistent manner. Then we model structure of the surface of different crystallographic planes. Next, the kinetic equations for shifting rate of void surface elements located normal to the void surface are obtained. These equations take into account the dependence of the vacancy flux on strain…
Owing to their non-planar cores 1/2<111> screw dislocations govern the plastic deformation of BCC metals. Atomistic studies of the glide of these dislocations at 0 K have been performed using Bond Order Potentials for molybdenum and tungsten that account for the mixed metallic and covalent bonding in transition metals. When applying pure shear stress in the slip direction it displays significant twinning-antitwinning asymmetry for molybdenum but not for tungsten. However, for tensile/compressive loading the Schmid law breaks down in both metals, principally due to the effect of shear stresses …
We report a computational discovery of novel grain boundary structures and multiple grain boundary phases in elemental bcc tungsten. While grain boundary structures created by the γ-surface method as a union of two perfect half crystals have been studied extensively, it is known that the method has limitations and does not always predict the correct ground states. Here, we use a newly developed computational tool, based on evolutionary algorithms, to perform a grand-canonical search of a high-angle symmetric tilt boundary in tungsten, and we find new ground states and multiple phases that cann…
Atomistic simulations of the experimental W L$_3$-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) of bcc tungsten at T = 300 K were performed using classical molecular dynamics (MD) and reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) methods. The MD-EXAFS method based on the results of MD simulations allowed us to access the structural information, encoded in EXAFS, beyond the first coordination shell and to validate the accuracy of two interaction potential models - the embedded atom model potential and the second nearest-neighbor modified embedded atom method potential. The RMC-EXAFS method was used for mor…
Understanding how properties of materials change due to nuclear transmutations is a major challenge for the design of structural components for a fusion power plant. In this study, by combining a first-principles matrix Hamiltonian approach with thermodynamic integration we investigate quasi-steady state configurations of multi-component alloys, containing defects, over a broad range of temperature and composition. The model enables simulating transmutation-induced segregation effects in materials, including tungsten where the phenomenon is strongly pronounced. Finite-temperature analysis show…
Twin boundaries (TBs) are assumed to be obstacles to dislocation motion and increase the strength of metals. Here, we report the abnormal phenomenon that TBs reduce the strength of body-centered cubic (BCC) tungsten (W). [1-11]-oriented W nanowires with (121) twin planes and free of dislocations were fabricated by chemical vapor deposition. In situ tensile tests within the transmission electron microscope were performed on single-crystal and twinned W nanowires. The fracture strength of the twinned W nanowire was 13.7 GPa, 16% lower than that of the single-crystal W nanowire (16.3 GPa). The we…
We introduce interatomic potentials for tungsten in the bcc crystal phase and its defects within the Gaussian Approximation Potential (GAP) framework, fitted to a database of first principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We investigate the performance of a sequence of models based on databases of increasing coverage in configuration space and showcase our strategy of choosing representative small unit cells to train models that predict properties only observable using thousands of atoms. The most comprehensive model is then used to calculate properties of the screw dislocation…
We show here how density functional theory calculations can be used to predict the temperatureand orientation-dependence of the yield stress of body-centered cubic (BCC) metals in the thermallyactivated regime where plasticity is governed by the glide of screw dislocations with a 1/2 <111> Burgers vector. Our numerical model incorporates non-Schmid effects, both the twinning/antitwinning asymmetry and non-glide effects, characterized through ab initio calculations on straight dislocations. The model uses the stress-dependence of the kink-pair nucleation enthalpy predicted by a line tension mod…
Unraveling the temperature dependence of the yield strength in single-crystal tungsten using atomistically-informed crystal plasticity calculations
University of California Los Angeles（加州大学洛杉矶分校）；Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory（劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室）；Universidad Politécnica de Madrid（马德里理工大学）；Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung（马克斯·普朗克铁研究所）
In this work the linear elastic properties of materials containing spherical voids are calculated and compared using finite element simulations. The focus is on homogeneous solid materials with spherical, empty voids of equal size. The voids are arranged on crystalline lattices (SC, BCC, FCC and HCP structure) or randomly, and may overlap in order to produce connected voids. In that way, the entire range of void fraction between 0.00 and 0.95 is covered, including closed-cell and open-cell structures. For each arrangement of voids and for different void fractions the full stiffness tensor is c…
Properties of point defects resulting from the incorporation of inert-gas atoms in bcc tungsten are investigated systematically using first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The most stable configuration for the interstitial neon, argon, krypton and xenon atoms is the tetrahedral site, similarly to what was found earlier for helium in W. The calculated formation energies for single inert-gas atoms at interstitial sites as well as at substitutional sites are much larger for Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe than for He. While the variation of the energy of insertion of inert-gas defects …
Atomistic understanding of hydrogen bubble-induced embrittlement in tungsten enabled by machine learning molecular dynamics
University of Science and Technology Beijing（北京科技大学）；Fuzhou University（福州大学）；Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Materials Genome Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing（北京科技大学材料基因组工程高等创新中心）；Aalto University（阿尔托大学）；Tel Aviv University（特拉维夫大学）
Equation of state (EOS) for bcc tungsten at 300 K (or 3000 K) up to 1000 GPa (or 300 GPa) was predicted for the first time by solving the partition function via a direct integral approach (DIA) with ab initio calculations of the atoms' interactions. Compared with available experiments under static compressions up to 150 GPa (or 35 GPa) for room temperature (or 1673 K), all the calculated results are within the experimental uncertainty achieved very recently. Furthermore, the same procedure was performed to investigate the shock wave experiments on the EOS up to 400 GPa and 10000 K, and the cal…
The thermodynamic description of dislocation glide in crystals depends crucially on the shape of the Peierls barrier that the dislocation has to overcome when moving in the lattice. While the height of this barrier can be obtained unequivocally using saddle-point search algorithms such as the Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) method, its exact shape depends on the chosen approximation of the transition pathway of the system. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a procedure that allows to identify the position of the dislocation directly from the displacements of atoms in its core. We investigate …
Ductile failure is studied in a bcc HfNbTaZr High Entropy Alloy (HEA) with a pre-existing void. Using molecular dynamics simulations of uniaxial tensile tests, we explore the effect of void radius on the elastic modulus and yield stress. The elastic modulus scales with porosity as in closed-cell foams. The critical stress for dislocation nucleation as a function of the void radius is very well described by a model designed after pure bcc metals, taking into account a larger core radius for the HEA. Twinning takes place as a complementary deformation mechanism, and some detwinning occurs at lar…
Generally displacement fields in the vicinity of voids were determined by the equations of theory of elasticity. Such a description has its disadvantages as it does not take into account the discrete atomic structure of materials and it should be expected that atom displacements in the vicinity of nanovoids should significantly differ from the predictions of mentioned theory. In our recent works a new variant of Molecular Static method was developed. In particular in this model an iterative procedure is used in which the atomic structure in the vicinity of defect and constant, determining the …
We use a new variant of Molecular Static method for simulation of the atomic structure near nanovoids. In our model an iterative procedure is employed, in which the atomic structure in the void vicinity and the parameter determining the displacement of atoms embedded into an elastic continuum are obtained in a self-consistent manner. Results show that the atom displacements near nanovoids are significantly different for varies crystallographic directions in bcc metals. Not long ago we have obtained an equation of vacancy diffusion under strain. Now we use this equation and the atom displacemen…
Object kinetic Monte Carlo was employed to study the effect of dose rate on the evolution of vacancy microstructure in polycrystalline tungsten under neutron bombardment. The evolution was followed up to 1.0 displacement per atom (dpa) with point defects generated in accordance with a primary knock-on atom (PKA) spectrum corresponding to 14-MeV neutrons. The present study includes the effect of grain size (2.0 and 4.0 $μ$m) but excludes the impact of transmutation or pre-existing defects beyond grain boundary sinks. Vacancy cluster density increases with dose rate, while the density of vacanci…
An accurate description of atomic interactions, such as that provided by first principles quantum mechanics, is fundamental to realistic prediction of the properties that govern plasticity, fracture or crack propagation in metals. However, the computational complexity associated with modern schemes explicitly based on quantum mechanics limits their applications to systems of a few hundreds of atoms at most. This thesis investigates the application of the Gaussian Approximation Potential (GAP) scheme to atomistic modelling of tungsten - a bcc transition metal which exhibits a brittle-to-ductile…
Object kinetic Monte Carlo simulations were performed to study the impact of varying dose rate and grain size up to a dose of 1.0 dpa in pure, polycrystalline tungsten, subjected to a neutron irradiation having a PKA spectrum corresponding to the High Flux Isotope Reactor. The present study models defect cluster accumulation in tungsten, but does not consider the impact of transmutation or pre-existing defects beyond the grain boundary sinks, with varying grain size. With increasing dose rate, the vacancy cluster density increases, while the number density of vacancies decreases. Accordingly, …
