Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:59:04.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Computer Simulation Study of the Effects of Copper Precipitates on Dislocation Core Structure in Ferritic Steels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

T. Harry
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, U.K.
D. J. Bacon
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, U.K.
Get access

Abstract

The small, coherent BCC precipitates of copper that form during fast neutron irradiation of ferritic steels are an important component of in-service irradiation hardening. Many-body interatomic potentials for the Fe-Cu alloy system have been developed and used to simulate the atomic structure of the ½<111> screw dislocation in both pure a-iron and the metastable BCC phase of copper. In iron, the core has the well-known 3-fold form of atomic disregistry. In BCC copper, however, the core structure depends on the lattice parameter. At the metastable equilibrium value, the core is similar to that in iron, but as the lattice parameter is reduced, as in a precipitate, the core becomes delocalised by transformation of the copper. Simulation of dislocated crystals containing precipitates shows that the extent of this effect depends on precipitate size. The energy changes indicate a significant dislocation pinning effect due to this dislocation-induced precipitate transformation process.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Refernces

1. Phythian, W.J., Foreman, A.J.E., English, C.A., Buswell, J.T., Hetherington, M.G., Roberts, K. and Pizzini, S., Proc. 15th Int. Symp. on Effects of Radiation on Materials, ASTM-STP 1125 (The Amer. Soc. for Test. and Mater., 1992) p. 131.Google Scholar
2. Buswell, J.T., Phythian, W.J., McElroy, R.J., Dumbill, S., Ray, P.H.N., Mace, J. and Sinclair, R.N., J. Nucl. Mater. 225, 196 (1995).Google Scholar
3. Ackland, G.J., Bacon, D.J., Calder, A.F. and Harry, T.J., Phil. Mag. A in the press.Google Scholar
4. Calder, A.F. and and Bacon, D.J., these Proceedings.Google Scholar
5. Finnis, M.W. and Sinclair, J.E., Phil. Mag. A 50, 45 (1984).Google Scholar
6. Ackland, G.J., Tichy, G.I., Vitek, V. and Finnis, M.W., Phil. Mag. A 56, 735 (1987).Google Scholar
7. Foreman, A.J.E., Phythian, W.J. and English, C.A., Phil. Mag. A 66, 671 (1992).Google Scholar
8. Yan, M., Sob, M., Ackland, G.J., Luzzi, D.E., Vitek, V., Methfessel, M. and Rodriguez, C.O., Phys. Rev. B 47, 5571 (1993).Google Scholar
9. Methfessel, M., Phys. Rev. B 38, 1537 (1988).Google Scholar
10. Wriedt, H.A. and Darken, L.S., Trans. Met. Soc. AIME 218, 30 (1960).Google Scholar
11. Osetsky, Yu. N. and Serra, A., Phil. Mag. A 73, 249 (1996).Google Scholar
12. Vitek, V., Crystal Lattice Defects 5, 1 (1974).Google Scholar
13. Russell, K.C. and Brown, L.M., Acta Metall. 20, 969 (1972).Google Scholar
14. Auger, P., Pareige, P., Akamatsu, M. and Blavette, D., J. Nucl. Mater. 225, 225 (1995).Google Scholar