Mechanism of vacancy formation induced by hydrogen in tungsten

We report a hydrogen induced vacancy formation mechanism in tungsten based on classical molecular dynamics simulations. We demonstrate the vacancy formation in tungsten due to the presence of hydrogen associated directly with a stable hexagonal self-interstitial cluster as well as a linear crowdion....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yi-Nan Liu, T. Ahlgren, L. Bukonte, K. Nordlund, Xiaolin Shu, Yi Yu, Xiao-Chun Li, Guang-Hong Lu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2013-12-01
Series:AIP Advances
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4849775
Description
Summary:We report a hydrogen induced vacancy formation mechanism in tungsten based on classical molecular dynamics simulations. We demonstrate the vacancy formation in tungsten due to the presence of hydrogen associated directly with a stable hexagonal self-interstitial cluster as well as a linear crowdion. The stability of different self-interstitial structures has been further studied and it is particularly shown that hydrogen plays a crucial role in determining the configuration of SIAs, in which the hexagonal cluster structure is preferred. Energetic analysis has been carried out to prove that the formation of SIA clusters facilitates the formation of vacancies. Such a mechanism contributes to the understanding of the early stage of the hydrogen blistering in tungsten under a fusion reactor environment.
ISSN:2158-3226