Abstract
Iron(Fe)-based alloys,which have been widely used as structural materials in nuclear reactors,can significantly change their microstructure properties and macroscopic properties under high flux neutron irradiation during operation,thus,the problems associated with the safe operation of nuclear reactors have been put forward naturally.In this work,a molecular dynamics simulation approach combined with electronic effects is developed for investigating the primary radia-tion damage process in α-Fe.Specifically,the influence of electronic effects on the collision cascade in Fe is systematically evaluated based on two commonly used interatomic potentials for Fe.The simulation results reveal that both electronic stopping(ES)and electron-phonon coupling(EPC)can contribute to the decrease of the number of defects in the thermal spike phase.The application of ES reduces the number of residual defects after the cascade evolution,whereas EPC has a reverse effect.The introduction of electronic effects promotes the formation of the dispersive subcascade:ES signifi-cantly changes the geometry of the damaged region in the thermal spike phase,whereas EPC mainly reduces the extent of the damaged region.Furthermore,the incorporation of electronic effects effectively mitigates discrepancies in simulation outcomes when using different interatomic potentials.
基金项目
National MCF Energy Research and Development Program of China(2022YFE03200200)
National MCF Energy Research and Development Program of China(2018YFE0308101)
国家自然科学基金(12105194)
四川省自然科学基金(2022NSFSC1265)
四川省自然科学基金(2022NSFSC1251)
万方数据