Improving atomic displacement and replacement calculations with physically realistic damage models.

Atomic collision processes are fundamental to numerous advanced materials technologies such as electron microscopy, semiconductor processing and nuclear power generation. Extensive experimental and computer simulation studies over the past several decades provide the physical basis for understanding the atomic-scale processes occurring during primary displacement events. The current international standard for quantifying this energetic particle damage, the Norgett-Robinson-Torrens displacements per atom (NRT-dpa) model, has nowadays several well-known limitations. In particular, the number of radiation defects produced in energetic cascades in metals is only ~1/3 the NRT-dpa prediction, while the number of atoms involved in atomic mixing is about a factor of 30 larger than the dpa value. Here we propose two new complementary displacement production estimators (athermal recombination corrected dpa, arc-dpa) and atomic mixing (replacements per atom, rpa) functions that extend the NRT-dpa by providing more physically realistic descriptions of primary defect creation in materials and may become additional standard measures for radiation damage quantification.

Plastic anisotropy and dislocation trajectory in BCC metals.

Plasticity in body-centred cubic (BCC) metals at low temperatures is atypical, marked in particular by an anisotropic elastic limit in clear violation of the famous Schmid law applicable to most other metals. This effect is known to originate from the behaviour of the screw dislocations; however, the underlying physics has so far remained insufficiently understood to predict plastic anisotropy without adjustable parameters. Here we show that deviations from the Schmid law can be quantified from the deviations of the screw dislocation trajectory away from a straight path between equilibrium configurations, a consequence of the asymmetrical and metal-dependent potential energy landscape of the dislocation. We propose a modified parameter-free Schmid law, based on a projection of the applied stress on the curved trajectory, which compares well with experimental variations and first-principles calculations of the dislocation Peierls stress as a function of crystal orientation.