Effect of hydrogen atom concentration on hydrogen migration and bubble evolution in bcc iron

YX Wei and N Gao and D Wang and C Chen and LP Guo, NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B-BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS, 461, 83-87 (2019).

DOI: 10.1016/j.nimb.2019.09.025

The effect of the concentration of hydrogen (H) atoms on the hydrogen diffusion and evolution of hydrogen bubbles in body-centered cubic iron was investigated using molecular statics and molecular dynamics methods. The simulation results indicate that the local accumulation of H atoms can significantly influence their migration. Compared to the isolated H in a perfect lattice, the H atoms in a high-concentration H-cluster are trapped. After collecting a sufficient amount of hydrogen atoms, the H-vacancy cluster will push out one hydrogen atom instead of a self- interstitial atom, which indicates that loop-punching will not dominate the H-bubble growth in bcc iron. These results will provide a new understanding for the hydrogen-induced radiation damages in nuclear materials.

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