A mechanism for basal vacancy loop formation in zirconium

C Dai and P Saidi and M Topping and LK Beland and Z Yao and MR Daymond, SCRIPTA MATERIALIA, 172, 72-76 (2019).

DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2019.07.006

Experiments and molecular dynamics were combined to determine a formation mechanism for basal vacancy loops in zirconium. In scanning/transmission electron microscopy images with different tilting angles, the majority of prismatic loops lying on a given basal plane do not align on a trace, but are seemingly randomly distributed in the plane. Similar arrangements are observed in molecular dynamics simulations. Over 200 collision cascade simulations were performed. Basal cascade-induced dislocation segments are observed in arrangements with a high density of prismatic vacancy loops, consistent with earlier experimental observations. This mechanism of basal c-loop formation may explain the experimentally observed incubation period. (C) 2019 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Return to Publications page