Helium bubble growth in tungsten nanotendrils

YZ He and ZC Yang, JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 573, 154145 (2023).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.154145

In order to explore the growth mechanism of helium-induced fuzz beyond the initial stage, molecular dynamics simulations have been used to systematically study the growth of helium bubbles in tungsten nanotendrils, with particular attention to the effects of grain boundaries (GBs). The results show that helium bubble growth under the influence of GBs in tendrils has distinct features compared to bubble growth in the bulk or planar surfaces without GBs. While tall adatom islands are observed in the model of E3 and E7 GB structures, short and wide adatom islands are formed in the model of E5 and E17 GB structures. The difference in the resulting surface morphology is mainly due to the type of the dislocation lines punched out by the bubbles in different models. The results can help to explain the formation of branch structures in the fuzz tendrils as observed in experiments.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Return to Publications page