Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:21:18.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Using Space-Time Correlations to Identify Transient Defects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

William Lowe*
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina27695, U.S.A
Jacob Eapen
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina27695, U.S.A
*
*(Email: wclowe@ncsu.edu)
Get access

Abstract

Atomistic simulations are employed to investigate the dynamical behavior of atoms in cubic silicon carbide (SiC) following a 5 keV radiation knock. Specifically, we have computed the time-resolved van Hove self-correlation function, Gs(r,t), separately for the silicon and carbon sub-lattices. Our goal is to probe the early radiation damage mechanisms using a dynamical methodology. The simulation results show that the carbon atoms engage in a dynamic hopping mechanism as the system recovers from the radiation knock. The silicon atoms, however, exhibit a strikingly different behaviour: the time variation of 4πr2Gs(r,t) indicates a dynamic tension between the crystalline and disordered regions of the Si sub-lattice. The power-law tail of the 4πr2Gs(r,t) correlation for silicon atoms suggests a scale-free self-organized critical (SOC) state – a possible precursor to the collapse of the Si sub-lattice.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Zinkle, S. J., Terrani, K. A., Gehin, J. C., Ott, L. J., and Snead, L. L., “Accident tolerant fuels for LWRs: A perspective,” Journal of Nuclear Materials, vol. 448, pp. 374379, 2014/05/01/ 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L., Properties of silicon carbide: Iet, 1995.Google Scholar
Devanathan, R., de la Rubia, T. D., and Weber, W., “Displacement threshold energies in β-SiC,” Journal of nuclear materials, vol. 253, pp. 4752, 1998.Google Scholar
Devanathan, R. and Weber, W. J., “Displacement energy surface in 3C and 6H SiC,” Journal of Nuclear Materials, vol. 278, pp. 258265, 2000.Google Scholar
Bernholc, J., Kajihara, S. A., Wang, C., Antonelli, A., and Davis, R. F., “Theory of native defects, doping and diffusion in diamond and silicon carbide,” Materials Science and Engineering: B, vol. 11, pp. 265272, 1992/01/15 1992.Google Scholar
Wolfer, W. G., “1.01-Fundamental Properties of Defects in Metals A2-Konings, Rudy J.M,” in Comprehensive Nuclear Materials, ed Oxford: Elsevier, 2012, pp. 145.Google Scholar
Yuan, X. and Hobbs, L. W., “Modeling chemical and topological disorder in irradiation-amorphized silicon carbide,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, vol. 191, pp. 7482, 2002/05/01/ 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snead, L. and Hay, J., “Neutron irradiation induced amorphization of silicon carbide,” Journal of nuclear materials, vol. 273, pp. 213220, 1999.Google Scholar
Weber, W., Yu, N., and Wang, L., “Irradiation-induced amorphization in β-SiC,” Journal of nuclear materials, vol. 253, pp. 5359, 1998.Google Scholar
Gao, F. and Weber, W. J., “Atomic-scale simulation of 50 keV Si displacement cascades in β-SiC,” Physical Review B, vol. 63, p. 054101, 2000.Google Scholar
Gao, F. and Weber, W. J., “Mechanical properties and elastic constants due to damage accumulation and amorphization in SiC,” Physical Review B, vol. 69, p. 224108, 2004.Google Scholar
Gao, F. and Weber, W. J., “Atomic-scale simulation of 50 keV Si displacement cascades in Β-SiC,” Physical Review B, vol. 63, p. 054101, 12/22/ 2000.Google Scholar
Gao, F., Weber, W. J., and Jiang, W., “Primary damage states produced by Si and Au recoils in SiC: A molecular dynamics and experimental investigation,” Physical Review B, vol. 63, p. 214106, 05/14/ 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, C., Zheng, M.-J., Morgan, D., and Szlufarska, I., “Amorphization driven by defect-induced mechanical instability,” Physical review letters, vol. 111, p. 155501, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkins, P., Fortini, A., Archer, A. J., and Schmidt, M., “The van Hove distribution function for Brownian hard spheres: Dynamical test particle theory and computer simulations for bulk dynamics,” The Journal of chemical physics, vol. 133, p. 224505, 2010.Google Scholar
Tersoff, J., “Carbon defects and defect reactions in silicon,” Physical review letters, vol. 64, p. 1757, 1990.Google Scholar
Tersoff, J., “Modeling solid-state chemistry: Interatomic potentials for multicomponent systems,” Physical Review B, vol. 39, pp. 55665568, 03/15/ 1989.Google Scholar
Ziegler, J. F. and Biersack, J. P., “The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter,” in Treatise on Heavy-Ion Science: Volume 6: Astrophysics, Chemistry, and Condensed Matter, Bromley, D. A., Ed., ed Boston, MA: Springer US, 1985, pp. 93129.Google Scholar