COMPUTER INVESTIGATION OF RADIATION DAMAGE IN CRYSTALS.

Abstract

A theoretical study of radiation damage in crystals has been performed, using computer techniques. The materials studied were three face-centered cubic metals: copper, aluminum and gold. Two major areas of investigation were pursued: (1) the study of various static configurations of lattice defects in copper and aluminum; and (2) the study of threshold displacement energies in gold. The major focus of all work done was the effect of the choice of interatomic potential on the calculational results obtained. It is shown that the magnitude of the interstitial defect energies calculated is highly sensitive to the detailed form of the potential employed. With respect to vacancy characteristics, a potential for copper has been developed which leads to excellent agreement with experiment. In addition, a procedure is indicated for modifying this potential to also give meaningful results for interstitial characteristics. Of four Born-Mayer potentials studied for gold, it is shown that only the one derived on the basis of radiation damage data leads to good agreement with experiment for the (100) threshold energy. Threshold studies in the (110) direction indicated highly efficient propagation of energy along the collision line. However, it is concluded that no reasonable judgment concerning the (110) threshold energy can be made from the data obtained.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1966
Accession Number
AD0643956

Entities

People

  • Allan Anderman

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Aluminum
  • Collisions
  • Computers
  • Crystal Structure
  • Crystals
  • Displacement
  • Judgment
  • Materials
  • Metals
  • Radiation

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.
  • Systems Analysis and Design