Microstractural evolution under irradiation predicted by cluster dynamics

Abe, Yosuke; Jitsukawa, Shiro

Using the cluster dynamics (CD) simulation, the effects of the mobility of large SIA loops on the development of the microstructure are examined under cascade irradiation condition. The obtained SIA and vacancy clusters as well as the cluster size distributions depending on the damage level are compared with results by experiments in -iron. It was shown that for mobile clusters up to three, the saturation versus dose is clearly not reproduced for both SIA and vacancy cluster densities because defect clusters are continuously produced by cascade damage but large SIA clusters do not migrate and annihilated at sinks. Therefore, taking the mobility of SIA clusters of all sizes into account in CD simulation is necessary to successfully reproduce the saturation trend of SIA cluster density as a function of irradiation dose.