Predicting radiation damage in beryllium

YR Than and RW Grimes, PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE, 101, 306-325 (2021).

DOI: 10.1080/14786435.2020.1834636

Displacement damage in beryllium was predicted as a function of temperature and energy using molecular dynamics simulations. A key aim of this study was to determine if average results from large displacement cascades correspond to values predicted by the Kinchin- Pease (K-P) model. The number of residual defects remaining after 1 ps increased linearly with primary knock-on atom (PKA) energy from 0.5 keV to 2.5 keV, while the extent of residual damage was largely temperature independent from 300 K to 1100 K. The same simulation model was used to predict the directionally averaged probability of displacement as a function of displacement energy, P(E-PKA), and thereby the threshold displacement energy at which the probability for displacement is 100%, E-d(1.0) = 105 eV. There is an excellent correspondence between the K-P prediction using E-d = E-d(1.0) and the number of residual defects remaining after the initial recovery phase. Also, by utilising P(E-PKA), a modification to the K-P model is proposed that gives rise to an average model prediction when E-PKA < 2E(d)(1.0).

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