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Az -Theory and Models of Radiation Effects PACS 61.82.Bg -Metals and Alloys PACS 61.72.J--Point Defects and Defect clustersAbstract -Recently, a scaling law describing the formation of defect clusters under irradiation has been established [1,2]. A critical constraint associated with its application to phenomena occurring over a broad range of irradiation conditions is the limitation on the energy of incident particles. Incident neutrons or ions, with energies exceeding a certain energy threshold, produce a complex hierarchy of collision subcascade events, which impedes the use of the defect cluster size scaling law derived for an individual low-energy cascade. By analyzing the statistics of subcascade sizes and energies, we show that defect clustering above threshold energies can be described by a product of two scaling laws, one for the sizes of subcascades and the other for the sizes of defect clusters formed in subcascades. The statistics of subcascade sizes exhibits a transition at a threshold energy, where the subcascade morphology changes from a single molten domain below the energy threshold, to several or many molten sub-domains above the threshold. The number of sub-domains then increases in proportion to the primary knock-on atom energy. The model has been validated against direct molecular dynamics simulations and applied to W, Fe, Be, Zr and sixteen other metals, enabling the prediction of full statistics of defect cluster sizes with no limitation on the energy of cascade events. We find that populations of defect clusters produced by the fragmented high-energy cascades are dominated by individual Frenkel pairs and relatively small defect clusters, whereas the lower-energy non-fragmented cascades produce a greater proportion of large defect clusters.

In a fusion tokamak, the plasma of hydrogen isotopes is in contact with tungsten at the surface of a divertor. In the bulk of the material, the hydrogen concentration profile tends towards dynamic equilibrium between the flux of incident ions and their trapping and release from defects, either native or produced by ion and neutron irradiation. The dynamics of hydrogen exchange between the plasma and the material is controlled by pressure, temperature, and also by the energy barriers characterizing hydrogen diffusion in the material, trapping and de-trapping from defects. In this work, we extend the treatment of interaction of hydrogen with vacancy-type defects, and investigate how hydrogen is trapped by self-interstitial atom defects and dislocations. The accumulation of hydrogen on dislocation loops and dislocations is assessed using a combination of density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics with empirical potentials, and linear elasticity theory. The equilibrium configurations adopted by hydrogen atoms in the core of dislocations as well as in the elastic fields of defects, are modelled by DFT. The structure of the resulting configurations can be rationalised assuming that hydrogen atoms interact elastically with lattice distortions and that they interact between themselves through short-range repulsion. We formulate a two-shell model for hydrogen interaction with an interstitial defect of any size, which predicts how hydrogen accumulates at defects, dislocation loops and line dislocations at a finite temperature. We derive analytical formulae for the number of hydrogen atoms forming the Cottrell atmosphere of a mesoscopic dislocation loop or an edge dislocation. The solubility of hydrogen as a function of temperature, pressure and the density of dislocations exhibits three physically distinct regimes, dominated by the solubility of hydrogen in a perfect lattice, its retention at dislocation cores, and trapping by long-range elastic fields of dislocations.

Abstract

The long-term objective of the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) fusion materials programme is to develop structural and armor materials in combination with the necessary production and fabrication technologies for reactor concepts beyond the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The programmatic roadmap is structured into four engineering research lines which comprise fabrication process development, structural material development, armor material optimization, and irradiation performance testing, which are complemented by a fundamental research programme on ''Materials Science and Modelling.'' This paper presents the current research status of the EFDA experimental and testing investigations, and gives a detailed overview of the latest results on materials research, fabrication, joining, high heat flux testing, plasticity studies, modelling, and validation experiments.Corresponding author. Michael Rieht

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