SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 2001
STP10573S

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Radiation Damage Production in Cubic Silicon Carbide

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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.

Author Information

Malerba, L
Instituto de Fusión Nuclear, ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Perlado, JM
Instituto de Fusión Nuclear, ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Pastor, I
Instituto de Fusión Nuclear, ETSI Industriales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Diaz de la Rubia, T
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
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Details
Developed by Committee: E10
Pages: 799–812
DOI: 10.1520/STP10573S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5454-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-2878-1