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Influence of hydrogen concentration and defects introduced by neutron irradiation on hydrogen diffusion in tungsten has been investigated by molecular dynamics simulation at elevated temperatures. Hydrogen diffusion is shown to be significantly restrained at high concentrations due to spontaneous formation of platelet-like hydrogen clusters. For neutron irradiation defects, self-interstitials, mono-vacancies and vacancy clusters are considered. By clustering and acting as dislocation loops, self-interstitials show considerable trapping effects on hydrogen, leading to the suppression of hydrogen effective diffusion and the change of diffusion model in which hydrogen mainly diffuses along dislocation lines instead of hopping between tetrahedral interstitial sites. Moreover, an equation connecting hydrogen diffusion parameters and the total length of dislocation loops is empirically established. Different influences of mono-vacancies and vacancy clusters on hydrogen diffusion have been carefully identified. With the same vacancy concentration, hydrogen diffusivity is lower with mono-vacancies than that with vacancy clusters because more isolated trapping sites are provided by mono-vacancies. This work is not only helpful for understanding the synergistic effects of neutron irradiation and plasma interaction, but also potentially applicable for larger scale simulations as input data.

Molecular dynamic simulation is utilized to study the nanocluster and the fuzz structure on the PFM surface of tungsten. The polyhedral and linear cluster structures based on the icosahedron, cuboctahedron and rhombic dodecahedron are built up. Three interatomic potentials are used in calculating the relationship between the cluster energy and the number of atoms. The results are compared with first-principles calculation to show each potential’s best application scale. Furthermore, the transition between the icosahedral and the cuboctahedral clusters is observed in molecular dynamic simulation at different temperatures, which follows a critical curve for different numbers of atoms. The linear structures are proved to be stable at experimental temperatures by thermodynamics. The work presents a selection of interatomic potentials in simulating tungsten cluster systems and helps researchers understand the growth and evolution laws of clusters and the fuzz-like structure formation process in fusion devices.

To study the behavior of noble gas atoms (He, Ne and Ar) in bulk tungsten, new DFT-based potentials for W–He, W–Ne and W–Ar interactions were developed by fitting the results obtained from density functional theory calculations. The new potentials adopt the embedded atom method (EAM) formalism, and the “s-band model” is used to describe the many-body interactions between each of the noble gas atoms and its neighboring W atoms. These potentials reproduce the formation energies of point defects and the migration barriers of single noble gas atoms. The simulations using these potentials successfully predict that the tetrahedral interstitial site is more stable than the octahedral interstitial site for X (= He, Ne or Ar) interstitials. Based on these new potentials, the binding interactions of a single X atom with the Xn and Xn–Vacancy clusters and the diffusion properties of Xn clusters in bulk W were studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The present results indicate that the binding energies obtained using the new potentials are good in agreement with the results of DFT calculations. The migration energies of the clusters increase with both the increase in the atomic radius of noble gases and the increase in the size of the clusters.

We employ a classic molecular dynamics method to investigate the dissolution and diffusion properties of hydrogen (H) in a Σ5(3 1 0) tilt grain boundary (GB). A maximum binding energy of 2.5 eV and a diffusion barrier of 1.65 eV indicate that GB plays an important role in H trapping. Dynamic simulations with temperature ranging from 600 K to 1200 K verify the diffusion and the aggregation of H in the GB are closely associated with the temperature. Pair radius distribution function analysis suggests a high local GB concentration of H such as 30% at 900 K can lead to a disordered GB structure.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to investigate the diffusion behavior of helium (He) clusters in tungsten (W), because their diffusion properties provide basic knowledge in understanding the He bubble formation. The binding energy between He and He cluster is shown to be positive, and thus, He is easy to form bubbles by self-trapping. The mean squared displacements (MSDs) were employed to determine the diffusivities of He clusters with different sizes at different temperatures. The He bubble formation at different temperatures with 1% He was also investigated. It is revealed that the formation of He bubbles is strongly associated with the temperature and the diffusivities of the He clusters in W. The results demonstrate the initial stage of the He bubble formation and growth in W.

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to investigate the interactions between helium (He) and defects in tungsten (W). The binding energy between He and He cluster is shown to be positive, which increases with increasing He cluster size. Both the W self-interstitial atoms (SIAs) and the vacancy can promote the He cluster formation. The binding energies of a He, a vacancy and an SIA W to a He–vacancy cluster (He n V m ) in W are also investigated, which depend on the n / m ratio. According to these results, we propose the formation and growth mechanism of He bubbles, which involves the procedures of He–vacancy cluster formation, the capturing of vacancies, then He atoms, and vacancies again. The mechanism provides a good reference to understand the initial stage of the He bubble formation and growth in W.

The diffusion process of multiple He atoms in W is simulated by a molecular dynamics (MD) method with the W-H-He analytic bond-order potential. The diffusivities of different number of helium (He) atoms in W are determined by the mean squared displacement (MSD) method at different temperatures. The diffusivity-temperature (D-T) relationship is fitted to the Arrhenius equation to obtain the pre-factor and the diffusion barrier. Under the temperature of 1200K He atoms diffuse together, and above 1200K they separate from each other. When the number of He atoms is greater than three, all He atoms oscillate at the tetrahedral interstitial site (TIS) instead of diffusing under 400K. In the temperature range of 400-1200K, the diffusion barriers of He atoms, the number of which is from two to five, are 0.098, 0.170, 0.125 and 0.112eV, respectively. Contrasting with one He atom (0.058eV), the higher diffusion barriers reflect a greater difficulty in diffusion of multiple He atoms in W. In addition, when the number of He atoms is over five, vacancies are formed in W, and He atoms occupy the vacancies.

The interstitial helium (He) atom diffusion in tungsten (W) was studied by the Molecular Dynamics Simulation with the drag method, the Nudged Elastic Band method (NEB) and the mean square displacement (MSD) method. The diffusion barriers and the possible microscopic diffusion path were calculated by the drag method. It has the characteristics of simple, intuitive, and occupies less computer resources, but can't get the diffusion equation. The NEB method is more reasonable than the drag method to calculate the diffusion barriers, and determine the diffusion path which, but the former spends more computer resources than the latter, and it also can't get the diffusion equation. The diffusion equation is obtained by MSD method, including the diffusion per-factor and diffusion barriers. It is suggested that the mechanism of He diffusion changes with difference temperature, which spends the most computer resources among the three methods.

We have performed a molecular dynamics study on the growth of helium (He) clusters in the subsurface of tungsten (W) (1 0 0) at 300 K, focusing on the role of cluster depth. Irregular 'stick–slip' behavior exhibited during the evolution of the He cluster growth is identified, which is due to the combined effects of the continuous cluster growth and the loop punching induced pressure relief. We demonstrate that the He cluster grows via trap-mutation and loop punching mechanisms. Initially, the self-interstitial atom SIA clusters are almost always attached to the He cluster; while they are instantly emitted to the surface once a critical cluster pressure is reached. The repetition of this process results in the He cluster approaching the surface via a 'stop-and-go' manner and the formation of surface adatom islands (surface roughening), ultimately leading to cluster bursting and He escape. We reveal that, for the Nth loop punching event, the critical size of the He cluster to trigger loop punching and the size of the emitted SIA clusters are correspondingly increased with the increasing initial cluster depth. We tentatively attribute the observed depth effects to the lower formation energies of Frenkel pairs and the greatly reduced barriers for loop punching in the stress field of the W subsurface. In addition, some intriguing features emerge, such as the morphological transformation of the He cluster from 'platelet-like' to spherical, to ellipsoidal with a 'bullet-like' tip, and finally to a 'bottle-like' shape after cluster rupture.

The point defects and their related physical properties in L10 FePt are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations based on an analytic bond-order potential. The calculated results agree well with the experimental value, indicating that the analytic bond-order potential is suitable to describe the structural properties and surface energies of the FePt alloy in the L10 phase. However, the calculated vacancy formation energy of an Fe atom is higher than that of a Pt atom, which disagrees with some other previously calculated results. This result indicates that the analytic bond-order potential is unable to describe the related point defect properties. The analytic bond-order potential needs to be modified in order to study these defect properties of an FePt alloy. analytic bond-order potential, FePt, point defects, molecular dynamics simulation

The dislocation 1/2[111](1-10) in iron is constructed. The motion behaviors of dislocation 1/2[111](1-10) in iron, as well as the dislocation with the Carbon located in dislocation core, are simulated by the molecular dynamics method with a modified analytic embedded atomic method (MAEAM). The carbon atoms are easy captured by the dislocation core and they can block the dislocation moving. After the carbon atoms are separated from the dislocation, the moving velocities of the dislocation are similar as the case of single dislocation.

Analytic embedded-atom method (EAM) interatomic potentials for body-centered cubic (bcc) transition metals have been constructed. The total energy is regarded as consisting of a pair potential part, an embedding interaction part and a modification term. All these parts are analytic functions of the atomic separations only and are fitted to various bulk properties, such as cohesive energy, vacancy formation energy, lattice constant and elastic constants. The present potentials are shown to predict a more realistic pressure–volume relationship so that interactions at separations smaller than that of the first-nearest neighbors can be treated. Interstitial formation energies are calculated for various configurations, using quenched molecular dynamics. Vacancy, surface and phonon spectra have been also studied and satisfactory agreement with available experimental data has been found.

We report a hydrogen induced vacancy formation mechanism in tungsten based on classical molecular dynamics simulations. We demonstrate the vacancy formation in tungsten due to the presence of hydrogen associated directly with a stable hexagonal self-interstitial cluster as well as a linear crowdion. The stability of different self-interstitial structures has been further studied and it is particularly shown that hydrogen plays a crucial role in determining the configuration of SIAs, in which the hexagonal cluster structure is preferred. Energetic analysis has been carried out to prove that the formation of SIA clusters facilitates the formation of vacancies. Such a mechanism contributes to the understanding of the early stage of the hydrogen blistering in tungsten under a fusion reactor environment.

The energetics and kinetics regarding helium (He) cluster growth in bcc tungsten (W) are unveiled using combined techniques of molecular statics and molecular dynamics. The principal mechanisms accounting for the decrease of system potential energy are identified to be trap mutation, → cluster transformation, loop punching, coalescence between 1/2[1 1-1] and 1/2[1-1-1] loops, and loop capturing. The kinetic barriers associated with these key atomistic events are estimated. This work provides new insights into the complex yet intriguing atomistic evolution sequence of the He cluster and interstitial loop in W-based nuclear fusion materials under irradiation.