Interaction of Ti and Cr atoms with point defects in bcc vanadium: A DFT study

The development of low-swelling radiation-resistant alloys is vital for the creation of reliable fusion reactors. In this article, we revisit the long-standing problem of very low radiation swelling in V-Ti-Cr alloys by means of DFT calculations. In particular, we study double and triple interactions of point defects such as solutes, vacancies and self-interstitial atoms in bcc V. According to our results titanium atom and vacancy are strongly attracted and in addition to pairs form highly stable triple Ti-Vacancy-Ti complexes, which are absent in the case of chromium. By using an analytic model of void growth and using calculated binding energies of point defect complexes in bcc vanadium we obtain three orders of magnitude reduction of swelling rate due to the formation of Ti-Vacancy-Ti complexes, which allows to explain experimental observations. Finally, we explain the causes of the strong attraction between titanium and vacancy using geometry and electronic structure analysis.