Shockwave generates < 100 > dislocation loops in bcc iron

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07102-3
• Publication Date: 2018-11-13T16:31:15Z
• Authors: Qing Peng; Fanjiang Meng; Yizhong Yang; Chenyang Lu; Huiqiu Deng; Lumin Wang; Suvranu De; Fei Gao
• Keywords: Science; Q; 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; Article

The formation mechanism of < 100 > interstitial dislocation loops in ferritic steels stemming from irradiation remains elusive, as their formations are either too short for experiments, or long molecular dynamics simulations. Here, we report on the both and vacancy high energy displacement cascades using large-scale simulations with up to 220 million atoms. Riding supersonic shockwave generated cascade, self-interstitial atoms punched out form only a few picoseconds during one single cascade event, which is several orders magnitude faster than any existing mechanisms. analysis suggests that depends kinetic redistribution, where higher incidence larger atom mass could improve probability direct nucleation loops.