Due to the peculiar nature of the atomic order in quasicrystals, examining phase transitions in this class of materials is of particular interest. Energetic particle irradiation can provide a way to modify the structure locally in a quasicrystal. To examine irradiation-induced phase transitions in quasicrystals on the atomic scale, we have carried out molecular dynamics simulations of collision cascades in CaCd 6 quasicrystal cubic approximant with energies up to 10 keV at 0 and 300 K. The results show that the threshold energies depend surprisingly strongly on the local coordination environments. The energy dependence of stable defect formation exhibits a power-law dependence on cascade energy, and surviving defects are dominated by Cd interstitials and vacancies. Only a modest effect of temperature is observed on defect survival, while irradiation temperature increases lead to a slight increase in the average size of both vacancy clusters and interstitial clusters.
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