Evolution of helium bubbles in FeCoNiCr-based high-entropy alloys containing γ′ nanoprecipitates

A series of high-entropy alloys(HEAs) containing nanoprecipitates of varying sizes is successfully prepared by a non-consuming vacuum arc melting method.In order to study the irradiation evolution of helium bubbles in the FeCoNiCrbased HE As with γ' precipitates,these samples are irradiated by 100-keV helium ions with a fluence of 5 × 10^(20) ions/m^(2) at 293 K and 673 K,respectively.And the samples irradiated at room temperature are annealed at different temperatures to examine the diffusion behavior of helium bubbles.Transmission electron microscope(TEM) is employed to characterize the structural morphology of precipitated nanoparticles and the evolution of helium bubbles.Experimental results reveal that nanosized,spherical,dispersed,coherent,and ordered L1_(2)-type Ni_(3)Ti γ' precipitations are introduced into FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HEAs by means of ageing treatments at temperatures between 1073 K and 1123 K.Under the ageing treatment conditions adopted in this work,γ' nanoparticles are precipitated in FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HE As,with average diameters of 15.80 nm,37.09 nm,and 62.50 nm,respectively.The average sizes of helium bubbles observed in samples after 673-K irradiation are 1.46 nm,1.65 nm,and 1.58 nm,respectively.The improvement in the irradiation resistance of FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HEAs is evidenced by the diminution in bubbles size.Furthermore,the FeCoNiCr(Ni_(3)Ti)_(0.1) HEAs containing γ' precipitates of 15.8 nm exhibits the minimum size and density of helium bubbles,which can be ascribed to the considerable helium trapping effects of heterogeneous coherent phase boundaries.Subsequently,annealing experiments conducted after 293-K irradiation indicate that HEAs containing precipitated phases exhibits smaller apparent activation energy(E_(a)) for helium bubbles,resulting in larger helium bubble size.This study provides guidance for improving the irradiation resistance of L1_(2)-strengthened high-entropy alloy.

Atomistic study on the microscopic mechanism of grain boundary embrittlement induced by small dense helium bubbles in iron

The helium bubbles induced by 14 MeV neutron irradiation can cause intergranular fractures in reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel,which is a candidate structural material for fusion reactors.In order to elucidate the susceptibility of different grain boundaries(GBs)to helium-induced embrittlement,the tensile fracture processes of 10 types of GBs with and without helium bubbles in body-centered cubic(bcc)iron at the relevant service temperature of 600 K were investigated via molecular dynamics methods.The results indicate that in the absence of helium bubbles,the GBs studied here can be classified into two distinct categories:brittle GBs and ductile GBs.The atomic scale analysis shows that the plastic deformation of ductile GB at high temperatures originates from complex plastic deformation mechanisms,including the Bain/Burgers path phase transition and deformation twinning,in which the Bain path phase transition is the most dominant plastic deformation mechanism.However,the presence of helium bubbles severely inhibits the plastic deformation channels of the GBs,resulting in a significant decrease in elongation at fractures.For bubble-decorated GBs,the ultimate tensile strength increases with the increase in the misorientation angle.Interestingly,the coherent twin boundary∑3{112}was found to maintain relatively high fracture strength and maximum failure strain under the influence of helium bubbles.

Molecular dynamics study of helium bubble pressure in titanium

In this paper, the pressure state of the helium bubble in titanium is simulated by a molecular dynamics （MD） method. First, the possible helium/vacancy ratio is determined according to therelation between the bubble pressure and helium/vacancy ratio; then the dependences of the helium bubble pressure on the bubble radius at different temperatures are studied. It is shown that the product of the bubble pressure and the radius is approximately a constant, a result justifying the pressure-radius relation predicted by thermodynamics-based theory for gas bubble. Furthermore, a state equation of the helium bubble is established based on the MD calculations. Comparison between the results obtained by the state equation and corresponding experimental data shows that the state equation can describe reasonably the state of helium bubble and thus could be used for Monte Carlo simulations of the evolution of helium bubble in metals.

In-situ TEM observation of the evolution of helium bubbles in Mo during He^(+)irradiation and post-irradiation annealing

The evolution of helium bubbles in purity Mo was investigated by in-situ transmission electron microscopy(TEM)during 30 keV He^(+)irradiation(at 673 K and 1173 K)and post-irradiation annealing(after 30 keV He^(+)irradiation with the fluence of 5.74×10^(16)He^(+)/cm^(2)at 673 K).Both He^(+)irradiation and subsequently annealing induced the initiation,aggregation,and growth of helium bubbles.Temperature had a significant effect on the initiation and evolution of helium bubbles.The higher the irradiation temperature was,the larger the bubble size at the same irradiation fluence would be.At 1173 K irradiation,helium bubbles nucleated and grew preferentially at grain boundaries and showed super large size,which would induce the formation of microcracks.At the same time,the geometry of helium bubbles changed from sphericity to polyhedron.The polyhedral bubbles preferred to grow in the shape bounded by{100}planes.After statistical analysis of the characteristic parameters of helium bubbles,the functions between the average size,number density of helium bubbles,swelling rate and irradiation damage were obtained.Meanwhile,an empirical formula for calculating the size of helium bubbles during the annealing was also provided.

Statistical analysis of helium bubbles in transmission electron microscopy images based on machine learning method

Helium bubbles,which are typical radiation microstructures observed in metals or alloys,are usually investigated using transmission electron microscopy(TEM).However,the investigation requires human inputs to locate and mark the bubbles in the acquired TEM images,rendering this task laborious and prone to error.In this paper,a machine learning method capable of automatically identifying and analyzing TEM images of helium bubbles is proposed,thereby improving the efficiency and reliability of the investigation.In the proposed technique,helium bubble clusters are first determined via the densitybased spatial clustering of applications with noise algorithm after removing the background and noise pixels.For each helium bubble cluster,the number of helium bubbles is determined based on the cluster size depending on the specific image resolution.Finally,the helium bubble clusters are analyzed using a Gaussian mixture model,yielding the location and size information on the helium bubbles.In contrast to other approaches that require training using numerous annotated images to establish an accurate classifier,the parameters used in the established model are determined using a small number of TEM images.The results of the model formulated according to the proposed approach achieved a higher F1 score validated through some helium bubble images manually marked.Furthermore,the established model can identify bubble-like objects that humans cannot facilely identify.This computationally efficient method achieves object recognition for material structure identification that may be advantageous to scientific work.

Spall in Aluminium with Helium Bubbles under Laser Shock Loading

The spallation behaviors of Al＋0.2wt% ^10B targets and neutron irradiated Al＋0.2wt% ^10B targets with 5nm radius helium bubble subjected to direct laser ablation are presented. It is found that the spall strength increases significantly with the tensile strain rate, and the helium bubble or boron inclusions in aluminum reduces the spall strength of materials by 34%. However, slight difference is observed in the spall strength of unirradiated samples compared with the irradiated sample with helium bubbles.

Atomic origins of solid helium bubbles in tungsten

Solid helium bubbles were directly observed in the helium ion implanted tungsten（W）, by different transmission electron microscopy（TEM） techniques at room temperature. The diameters of these solid helium bubbles range from1 nm to 8 nm in diameter with the mean bubble size about 3 nm. The selected area electron diffraction（SAED） and fast Fourier transform（FFT） images revealed that solid helium bubbles possess body-centered cubic（bcc） structure with a lattice constant of 0.447 nm. High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy（HAADF-STEM）images further confirmed the existence of helium bubble in tungsten. The present findings provide an atomic level view of the microstructure evolution of helium in the materials, and revealed the existence of solid helium bubbles in materials.

Influence of helium on the evolution of irradiation-induced defects in tungsten:An object kinetic Monte Carlo simulation

Understanding the evolution of irradiation-induced defects is of critical importance for the performance estimation of nuclear materials under irradiation.Hereby,we systematically investigate the influence of He on the evolution of Frenkel pairs and collision cascades in tungsten(W)via using the object kinetic Monte Carlo(OKMC)method.Our findings suggest that the presence of He has significant effect on the evolution of irradiation-induced defects.On the one hand,the presence of He can facilitate the recombination of vacancies and self-interstitial atoms(SIAs)in W.This can be attributed to the formation of immobile He-SIA complexes,which increases the annihilation probability of vacancies and SIAs.On the other hand,due to the high stability and low mobility of He-vacancy complexes,the growth of large vacancy clusters in W is kinetically suppressed by He addition.Specially,in comparison with the injection of collision cascades and He in sequential way at 1223 K,the average sizes of surviving vacancy clusters in W via simultaneous way are smaller,which is in good agreement with previous experimental observations.These results advocate that the impurity with low concentration has significant effect on the evolution of irradiation-induced defects in materials,and contributes to our understanding of W performance under irradiation.

Evolution of helium bubbles in nickel-based alloy by post-implantation annealing

Nickel-based alloys have been considered as candidate structural materials used in generation IV nuclear reactors serving at high temperatures.In the present study,alloy 617 was irradiated with 180-keV helium ions to a fluence of 3.6×10^(17) ions/cm^(2) at room temperature.Throughout the cross-section transmission electron microscopy(TEM)image,numerous over-pressurized helium bubbles in spherical shape are observed with the actual concentration profile a little deeper than the SRIM predicted result.Post-implantation annealing was conducted at 700℃for 2 h to investigate the bubble evolution.The long-range migration of helium bubbles occurred during the annealing process,which makes the bubbles of the peak region transform into a faceted shape as well.Then the coarsening mechanism of helium bubbles at different depths is discussed and related to the migration and coalescence(MC)mechanism.With the diffusion of nickel atoms slowed down by the alloy elements,the migration and coalescence of bubbles are suppressed in alloy 617,leading to a better helium irradiation resistance.

Helium bubble formation and evolution in NiMo-Y_(2)O_(3)alloy under He ion irradiation

We report helium ion irradiation experiments for a new type of dispersion-strengthened NiMo-Y_(2)O_(3)alloy with three different irradiation doses and varying irradiation dose rates at 750℃to evaluate its helium-induced damage behavior.Transmission electron microscopy was used to reveal the evolution of helium bubbles after irradiation.The experimental results show that with increasing ion dose,the number density of helium bubbles increases continuously.However,the mean size of helium bubbles first increases and then decreases,mainly due to the varied ion dose rates.The volume fractions of helium bubbles in the three investigated samples after irradiation are 0.15%,0.32%,and 0.27%,which are lower than that of the Hastelloy N alloy(0.58%)after similar irradiation conditions.This indicates that the NiMo-Y_(2)O_(3)alloy exhibits better helium-induced-swelling resistance than the Hastelloy N alloy,highlighting its potential applicability to MSRs,from the perspective of irradiation performance.

Study on Helium Bubble Coalescence in Titanium with Dislocations

Dislocation and grain boundary have great influence on helium behavior in materials. In this paper, the helium bubble coalescence in titanium with dislocations was simulated using molecular dynamics method. The results show that, when the second helium bubble nucleates near the slip plane, it grows toward the first helium bubble which lies at the dislocation core till they coalesce with each other. However, it is not easy for the coalescence to occur if the two helium bubbles lie in different atomic layers in (001) plane. If the second helium bubble is nucleated on the side of the slip plane with full atomic layers, the second helium bubble growth could lead to the movement of the first helium bubble toward the other sides of the slip plane. The growth rate and direction of the second helium bubble are closely related to the pressure around it.

Cross－sectional TEM Study of Helium Bubble Nucleation in 316L SS Implanted at 400℃ and 550℃

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Effect of Dislocations on Helium Bubble Nucleation in 316L SS During Hot－implantation at 550℃

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TEM Characterization of Helium Bubbles in T91 and MNHS Steels Implanted with 200 keV He Ions at Different Temperatures

Modified novel high silicon steel （MNHS, a newly developed reduced-activation martensitic alloy） and commercial alloy Tgl are implanted with 200 keV He2＋ ions to a dose of 5 × 1020 ions/m2 at 300, 450 and 560~C. Transmission electron microscopy （TEM） is used to characterize the size and morphology of He bubbles. With the increase of the implantation temperature, TEM observations indicate that bubbles increase in size and the proportion of ＇brick shaped＇ cuboid bubbles increases while the proportion of polyhedral bubbles decreases in both the steel samples. For the samples implanted at the same temperature, the average size of He bubbles in MNHS is smaller than that in T91. This might be due to the abundance of boundaries and precipitates in MNHS, which provide additional sites for the trapping of He atoms, thus reduce the susceptibility of MNHS to He embrittlement.

选区激光熔化成形304L不锈钢氦泡长大与辐照硬化行为

采用350 keV He+离子束在300℃下对沉积态和固溶态选区激光熔化成形(Selective laser melting,SLM)304L不锈钢进行辐照,辐照剂量为5×10^(16)ions/cm^(2),随后进行600℃保温1 h退火处理。利用透射电子显微镜(TEM)、正电子湮灭和纳米压痕仪研究氦泡的长大与材料硬化行为。系统对比了沉积态和固溶态两种状态的SLM 304L样品,结果表明:600℃退火处理时,沉积态SLM 304L不锈钢表现出优异的抗氦泡粗化能力,主要是由于沉积态样品中高密度位错和纳米析出物-基体界面等作为缺陷阱,有效抑制氦泡生长。此外,沉积态样品比固溶态样品具有更高的抗辐照硬化性能,退火处理后两者的硬化率分别为19%和51%。Orowan模型的计算表明,氦泡粗化程度的差异是造成两种状态下SLM 304L不锈钢硬化率不同的主要原因。

氦离子辐照下6061-Al合金中的氦泡行为研究

通过室温下的He离子辐照来研究核级6061-Al合金中氦泡的演变行为,辐照剂量为2×10^(15)cm^(-2)、1×10^(16)cm^(-2)、1×10^(17)cm^(-2)和2×10^(17)cm^(-2),通过扫描电镜(SEM)和原子力显微镜(AFM)来表征分析辐照后铝合金表面的损伤情况,并通过透射电镜(TEM)表征辐照产生的氦泡等微观缺陷。结果表明,辐照后铝合金产生了表面损伤,表面起泡程度和粗糙度随着He辐照剂量的增加而明显增大。初步计算表明,入射的He大部分都用于形成表面起泡,只有少数分布在基体内形成均匀的氦泡。随着辐照剂量的增加,基体内氦泡的尺寸先保持不变,然后显著增加,而氦泡密度则先增加后降低。另外,还观察到氦泡在析出物和晶界上发生了偏向性聚集和长大。本工作对深入认识铝合金在研究堆内面临的宏观力学性能退化以及可能的辐照失效行为具有重要意义。

氦泡对Cu/Nb层状材料界面拉伸屈服强度影响的分子模拟

基于分子动力学方法模拟研究了含氦泡Cu/Nb层状材料的界面拉伸屈服强度,考察了氦泡内压、氦泡尺寸和层厚对界面拉伸屈服强度及其变形机理的影响.研究结果发现,界面氦泡可以诱导界面位错成核,改变层状材料微观演化过程,显著降低了Cu/Nb层状材料的界面拉伸屈服强度.界面拉伸屈服强度随氦泡直径增大而减小,表现出明显的尺寸效应.典型的3 nm直径的平衡氦泡使得界面拉伸屈服强度(上屈服极限)相对于无氦泡情况降低约12%,而直径为6 nm的平衡氦泡使得界面拉伸屈服强度下降约33%.研究还发现,层厚对Cu/Nb层状材料的上屈服极限影响甚微,而对下屈服极限影响显著.前者归因于Cu/Nb界面的结构对称性和加载方式的对称性,使得界面应力及位错成核应力对层厚不敏感;后者则归因于层厚的增加给位错运动和演化提供了更大的空间,导致应力在屈服阶段的快速下降.

3C-SiC中嬗变原子(Mg、Be、Al)对He间隙原子迁移行为影响的第一性原理研究

辐照条件下固体嬗变原子对立方碳化硅(3C-SiC)基体内氦泡形成过程中的作用尚不明确。本文基于密度泛函理论研究了Mg、Be、Al这三种固体嬗变原子对He间隙原子在3C-SiC基体内的形成能以及迁移行为的影响。计算发现,He原子在3C-SiC基体中主要稳定于由Si或C原子组成的四面体间隙中,且易于在相邻间隙间迁移。当嬗变原子浓度从0增至5%(物质的量分数)时,碳四面体间隙位点的He原子形成能先是骤降、然后随着固体原子浓度的增大而线性改变,而硅四面体间隙位点的He原子形成能则是和固体原子浓度呈多次函数关系。同时,三种固体原子也使He原子的迁移势垒和扩散系数发生明显改变,He原子从C原子间隙迁移到Si原子间隙的迁移势垒随着固体原子浓度的升高而线性降低、扩散系数逐渐增大;从Si原子间隙迁移到C原子间隙的迁移势垒与浓度呈多次函数关系,扩散系数与势垒曲线反相关。无论哪种路径和掺杂浓度,固体原子的加入都促进了He原子的迁移,这为气泡的成核生长提供了有利条件。

Effects of helium irradiation dose and temperature on the damage evolution of Ti3SiC2 ceramic

The effects of 400 keV helium ion irradiation dose and temperature on the microstructure of the Ti3SiC2 ceramic were systematically investigated by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy.The helium irradiation experiments were performed at both room temperature(RT) and 500℃ with a fluence up to 2.0 × 1017 He+/cm2 that resulted in a maximum damage of 9.6 displacements per atom.Our results demonstrate that He irradiations produce a large number of nanometer defects in Ti3SiC2 lattice and then cause the dissociation of Ti3SiC2 to TiC nano-grains with the increasing He fluence.Irradiation induced cell volume swelling of Ti3SiC2 at RT is slightly higher than that at 500℃, suggesting that Ti3SiC2 is more suitable for use in a high temperature environment.The temperature dependence of cell parameter evolution and the aggregation of He bubbles in Ti3SiC2 are different from those in Ti3AlC2.The formation of defects and He bubbles at the projected depth would induce the degradation of mechanical performance.

Growth mode of helium crystal near dislocations in titanium

The helium bubble structure and growth modes near dislocations in titanium are studied using the molecular dynamics method. A helium crystal with an HCP structure in titanium is found to have a lattice constant of 1.977 A？ at 0 K. On either side of the slip plane, helium bubbles form in the（001） plane, but they are in different growth modes. On the side of the slip plane with full atomic layers, helium bubbles grow toward the slip plane and easily cross the slip plane. In the growth process, the position of the top surface of the helium bubble remains almost unchanged. On the other side of the slip plane,the helium bubble grows initially toward the dislocation core, but it is difficult to cross the slip plane, which results in growth in the opposite direction upon reaching the slip plane.