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Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Radiation Damage Production in Cubic Silicon Carbide Pages: 13 Published: Jan 2001
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View License Agreement Source: STP1405-EB Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC) is a candidate material for nuclear fusion reactor blankets; hence the importance of investigating its response to irradiation. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a powerful tool to study radiation-damage production from the microscopic standpoint. Results of displacement-cascade MD simulations, conducted using the Tersoff potential to describe the interatomic forces, are presented herein. The number of point-defects produced in the material by silicon- (Si) and carbon- (C) primary knock-on atoms (PKAs) of increasing energy (between 0.25 and, respectively, 8 and 4 keV) is studied systematically. By comparison with standard theoretical models, threshold-displacement-energy (TDE) values of practical usefulness for SiC are derived. The effect of irradiation temperature is also allowed for. Qualitatively, the C sublattice turns out to be more heavily damaged than the Sisublattice. The effect of the irradiation temperature becomes visible only above ≈2000 K. Keywords: silicon carbide, radiation effects, displacement cascades, point-defects, molecular dynamics simulation Paper ID: STP10573S Committee/Subcommittee: E10.07 DOI: 10.1520/STP10573S ASTM International is a member of CrossRef. | ||