Annealing of dislocation loops in dislocation dynamics simulations

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We report of 3-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) simulations of dislocation loops coarsening by vacancy bulk diffusion. The calculation is based upon a model which couples the diffusion theory of vacancies to the DDD in order to obtain the climb rate of the dislocation segments. Calculation of isolated loops agrees with experimental observations, i.e. loops shrink or expand, depending on their type and vacancy supersaturation. When an array of dislocation loops of various sizes is considered, and the total number of vacancies in the simulation is maintained constant, the largest dislocations are found to increase in size at the expense of small ones, which disappear in a process known as Ostwald ripening.