Influence of the distance of a collisional cascade to an edge dipole in α-Fe on dislocation mobility and defect production

Abstract

In this work we studied the effects of 20 keV collision cascades in alpha iron with a 1/2〈111〉{110} edge dipole using molecular dynamics. We analysed three different cases: a) the primary knock-on atom (PKA) is centred between both dislocations, b) the PKA is closer to one of the dislocations, and c) the PKA is on top of one of the dislocations and directed towards it. Our calculations show enhanced formation of vacancy clusters in the bulk for intermediate distances due to the absorption of self-interstitials by the dislocation during the collision cascade reducing the recombination between vacancies and self-interstitials. This effect results in the formation of jogs at the dislocation and the consequent climb due to the absorption of the self-interstitials. As a result, there is an unbalance between vacancies and self-interstitials produced by the collision cascade, with a significantly larger number of vacancies than self-interstitials in the bulk and the formation of large vacancy clusters. When the collision cascade develops directly on top of the dislocation, jogs are formed due to both the absorption of vacancies and self-interstitials, inducing climb and with the total dislocation length increasing up to several nanometers.

Keywords

• Molecular dynamics
• Metals
• Dislocations
• Collision cascades
• Radiation damage