Surface hardening induced by high flux plasma in tungsten revealed by nano-indentation

Surface hardness of tungsten after high flux deuterium plasma exposure has been characterized by nanoindentation. The effect of plasma exposure was rationalized on the basis of available theoretical models. Resistance to plastic penetration is enhanced within the 100 nm sub-surface region, attributed to the pinning of geometrically necessary dislocations on nanometric deuterium cavities e signature of plasma-induced defects and deuterium retention. Sub-surface extension of thereby registered plasmainduced damage is in excellent agreement with the results of alternative measurements. The study demonstrates suitability of nano-indentation to probe the impact of deposition of plasma-induced defects in tungsten on near surface plasticity under ITER-relevant plasma exposure conditions

High temperature nano-indentation of tungsten: Modelling and experimental validation

It is very well known that tungsten is intrinsically brittle at room temperature, and the characterization of its ductile properties by conventional mechanical tests is possible only above the ductile-to-brittle transition tem- perature (DBTT), i.e. above 500–700 K. However, the design of tungsten-based components often requires the knowledge of constitutive laws below the DBTT. Here, we carried out instrumented hardness measurements in the temperature range of 300–691 K by nano-indentation. The obtained results are used to extend a set of constitutive laws for the plastic deformation of tungsten, developed earlier on the basis of tensile data, which now covers the temperature range of 300–1273 K. The validation of the constitutive laws was realized by the crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) model, which was applied to simulate the nano-indentation loading curves. The distribution of stress and strain under the indenter was also studied by the CPFEM to bring an insight on the extension of the plastic zone in the process of the indentation, which is of crucial importance when nano-indentation is used to resolve the microstructural features generated by e.g. irradiation by energetic particles, plasma exposure or thermo-mechanical treatment

Assessment of hardening due to dislocation loops in bcc iron: Overview and analysis of atomistic simulations for edge dislocations

Upon irradiation, iron based steels used for nuclear applications contain dislocation loops of both and 1/2 type. Both types of loops are known to contribute to the radiation hardening and embrittlement of steels. In the literature many molecular dynamics works studying the interaction of dislocations with dislocation loops are available. Recently, based on such studies, a thermo-mechanical model to threat the dislocation - dislocation loop (DL) interaction within a discrete dislocation dynamics framework was developed for 1/2 loops. In this work, we make a literature review of the dislocation - DL interaction in bcc iron. We also perform molecular dynamics simulations to derive the stress-energy function for loops. As a result we deliver the function of the activation energy versus activation stress for loops that can be applied in a discrete dislocation dynamics framework

Crystal plasticity finite element method simulation for the nano-indentation of plasma-exposed tungsten

In this work, the nano-indentation of plasma-exposed tungsten is simulated at room temperature and elevated temperature (300–700 K) by the recently developed crystal plasticity finite element model. A nonlinear function is applied to characterize the depth profile of plasma-induced dislocation density in the sub-surface region. The model parameters are calibrated by comparing the simulated results with corresponding experimental data at 300 K for both the force-depth and hardness-depth relationships. Furthermore, the mechanical responses of plasma-exposed tungsten are predicted at 500 K and 700 K in order to characterize the plasma effect at the fusion-relevant operational temperature. The dominant results and conclusions are that: (1) The heterogeneously distributed dislocations in the sub-surface region induced by the plasma exposure are responsible for the increase of hardness at 300 K. (2) The plasma-induced microstructural modification does not yield to considerable increase of hardness at operational temperature. (3) The expansion of the plastic zone in the sub-surface region is, to some extent, limited by the presence of plasma-induced dislocations. Whereas, the increase of temperature can effectively reduce this limitation

Interatomic potential to study the formation of NiCr clusters in high Cr ferritic steels

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