First-principles calculations of hydrogen trapping energy on incoherent interfaces of aluminum alloys

Yamaguchi, Masatake; Ebihara, Kenichi; Tsuru, Tomohito; Itakura, Mitsuhiro

Materials Transactions, 64(11), p.2553 - 2559, 2023/11

https://doi.org/10.2320/matertrans.MT-M2023106

We attempted to calculate the hydrogen trapping energies on the incoherent interfaces of MgZn precipitates and MgSi crystallites in aluminum alloys from first-principles calculations. Since the unit cell containing the incoherent interface does not satisfy the periodic boundary condition, resulting in a discontinuity of crystal blocks, the hydrogen trapping energy was calculated in a region far from the discontinuity (vacuum) region. We found considerable trapping energies for hydrogen atoms at the incoherent interfaces consisting of assumed atomistic arrangement. We also conducted preliminary calculations of the reduction in the cohesive energy by hydrogen trapping on the incoherent interfaces of MgSi in the aluminum matrix.

Meso-timescale atomistic simulations on coalescence process of He bubbles in Fe by SEAKMC method

Yamamoto, Yojiro*; Hayakawa, Sho*; Okita, Taira*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro

Computational Materials Science, 229, p.112389_1 - 112389_9, 2023/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2023.112389

He bubbles are characteristic microstructures under fusion reactor conditions. They approach and coalesce through their own migration, which significantly impacts the microstructure and material properties. However, these processes, which involve multiple migrations of metal atoms, cannot be treated by molecular dynamics (MD) due to its timescale limitation. In this study, self-evolving atomistic kinetic Monte Carlo (SEAKMC) was used to expand the timescale and reproduce bubble coalescences in Fe. To enhance selections of events that led to the process by avoiding trivial events with an extremely low activation energy such as tiny vibrations of a He atom or short-range displacements of the Fe atom, we introduced two algorithms into SEAKMC, a two-step saddle point search for the former measure and setting a threshold for a displacement distance of the Fe atom for the latter. Furthermore, by adding another algorithm to set an upper bound for the activation energy to prevent selections of events with an impractically high activation energy, we succeeded to reproduce the change in the configuration from dumbbell to elliptical up to a simulated time of s, 8 orders longer than MD timescales. The developed method is effective for analyzing microstructures of metallic materials containing light elements and is the only method that can reach timescales comparable to those of experiments.

Dynamic interaction between dislocations and obstacles in BCC iron based on atomic potentials derived using neural networks

Mori, Hideki*; Tsuru, Tomohito; Okumura, Masahiko; Matsunaka, Daisuke*; Shiihara, Yoshinori*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro

Physical Review Materials (Internet), 7(6), p.063605_1 - 063605_8, 2023/06

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.063605

The introduction of obstacles (e.g., precipitates) for controlling dislocation motion in molecular structures is a prevalent method for designing the mechanical strength of metals. Owing to the nanoscale size of the dislocation core ( 1 nm), atomic modeling is required to investigate the interactions between the dislocation and obstacles. However, conventional empirical potentials are not adequately accurate, in contrast to the calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). Therefore, the atomic-level details of the interactions between the dislocations and obstacles remain unclarified. To this end, this study applied an artificial neural network (ANN) framework to construct an atomic potential by leveraging the high accuracy of DFT. Using the constructed ANN potential, we investigated the dynamic interaction between the edge dislocation and obstacles in BCC iron. When the dislocation crossed the void, an ultrasmooth and symmetric half-loop was observed for the bowing-out dislocation. Except for the screw dislocation, the Peierls stress of all the dislocations predicted using the ANN was less than 100 MPa. More importantly, the results confirmed the formation of an Orowan loop in the interaction between a rigid sphere and dislocation. Furthermore, we discovered a phenomenon in which the Orowan loop disintegrated into two small loops during its interaction with the rigid sphere and dislocation.

STEM-EELS/EDS chemical analysis of solute clusters in a dilute mille-feuille-type Mg-Zn-Y alloy

Sato, Yohei*; Egusa, Daisuke*; Miyazaki, Hidetoshi*; Kimura, Koji*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Terauchi, Masami*; Abe, Eiji*

Materials Transactions, 64(5), p.950 - 954, 2023/05

https://doi.org/10.2320/matertrans.MT-MD2022023

Dilute Mg-Zn-Y alloy with a mille-feuille structure (MFS) exhibits a mechanical strength comparable to Mg-Zn-Y alloy with long period stacking/ordered (LPSO) structure through kink deformation. In order to deepen understanding the thermal stability of the MFS-type Mg alloys, it is required to clarify the solute cluster structures composed of Zn and Y in solute enriched stacking faults (SESFs). In this study, electron energy-loss and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy based on scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM-EELS/EDS) were conducted to investigate the electronic structure and composition of Zn and Y in the SESFs of the MFS-Mg alloy. Zn-L2,3 spectra indicated that the valence charges of Zn in the dilute Mg alloy were different from that of the LPSO-type Mg-Zn-Y alloy. In addition, the intensity ratio of L3/L2 in Y-L2,3 spectrum of the dilute MFS-Mg alloy was larger than that of the LPSO-Mg alloy, reflecting the electron occupancies of 4d3/2 and 4d5/2 orbitals of Y atoms were different from those of the LPSO-Mg alloys. STEM-EELS analysis of the SESF composition in the dilute MFS-Mg alloy indicated that the Zn/Y ratio should be lower than that of the LPSO-Mg alloy, which was confirmed also by STEM-EDS measurements. These results indicate that the cluster structure in the SESFs of the dilute MFS-Mg alloy should be different from the ideal Zn6Y8 cluster in the LPSO-type Mg-Zn-Y alloys.

Machine learning molecular dynamics simulations for evaluation of high-temperature properties of nuclear fuel materials

Kobayashi, Keita; Nakamura, Hiroki; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Machida, Masahiko; Okumura, Masahiko

Materia, 62(3), p.175 - 181, 2023/03

https://doi.org/10.2320/materia.62.175

no abstracts in English

Long-timescale transformations of self-interstitial atom clusters of Cu using the SEAKMC method; The Effect of setting an activation energy threshold for saddle point searches

Hayakawa, Sho*; Yamamoto, Yojiro*; Okita, Taira*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Suzuki, Katsuyuki*

Computational Materials Science, 218, p.111987_1 - 111987_10, 2023/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2022.111987

Molecular dynamics simulations to quantify the interaction of a rigid and impenetrable precipitate with an edge dislocation in Cu

Tsugawa, Kiyoto*; Hayakawa, Sho*; Iwase, Yuki*; Okita, Taira*; Suzuki, Katsuyuki*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Aichi, Masaatsu*

Computational Materials Science, 210, p.111450_1 - 111450_9, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2022.111450

Machine learning molecular dynamics simulations toward exploration of high-temperature properties of nuclear fuel materials; Case study of thorium dioxide

Kobayashi, Keita; Okumura, Masahiko; Nakamura, Hiroki; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Machida, Masahiko; Cooper, M. W. D.*

Scientific Reports (Internet), 12(1), p.9808_1 - 9808_11, 2022/06

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13869-9

no abstracts in English

Dislocation core structure and motion in pure titanium and titanium alloys; A First-principles study

Tsuru, Tomohito; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Yamaguchi, Masatake; Watanabe, Chihiro*; Miura, Hiromi*

Computational Materials Science, 203, p.111081_1 - 111081_9, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2021.111081

The deformation mode of some titanium (Ti) alloys differs from that of pure Ti due to the presence of alloying elements in -phase. Herein, we investigated all possible slip modes in pure Ti and the effects of Al and V solutes as typical additive elements on the dislocation motion in -Ti alloys using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The stacking fault (SF) energies in possible slip planes indicated that both Al and V solutes reduce the SF energy in the basal plane and, in contrast, the Al solute increases the SF energy particularly in the prismatic plane. DFT calculations were subsequently performed to simulate dislocation core structures. The energy landscape of the transition between all possible dislocation core structures and the barriers for dislocation glide in various slip planes clarified the nature of dislocation motion in pure Ti. (i) the energy of prismatic core is higher than most stable pyramidal core, and thereby dislocations need to overcome the energy barrier of the cross-slip (22.8 meV/b) when they move in the prismatic plane, (ii) the energy difference between the prismatic and basal cores is larger (127 meV/b), that indicates the basal slip does not activate, (iii) however, the Peierls barrier for motion in the basal plane is not as high (16 meV/b). Direct calculations for the dislocation core around solutes revealed that both Al and V solutes facilitate dislocation motion in the basal plane by reducing the energy difference between the prismatic and basal cores. The effect of solutes characterizes the difference in the deformation mode of pure Ti and -Ti alloys.

Molecular dynamic simulations evaluating the effect of the stacking fault energy on defect formations in face-centered cubic metals subjected to high-energy particle irradiation

Terayama, Satoshi*; Iwase, Yuki*; Hayakawa, Sho*; Okita, Taira*; Itakura, Mitsuhiro; Suzuki, Katsuyuki*

Computational Materials Science, 195, p.110479_1 - 110479_12, 2021/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.commatsci.2021.110479