Abstract
With extra space, a carbon nanotube (CNT) could serve as an absorber of point defects, including helium interstitials, and outgas the accumulate helium via “nano-chimneys”. The radiation resistance of CNT/Fe has still not been fully understood. Herein, we investigated the influence of CNTs on low-energy helium irradiation resistance in CNT/Fe composites by molecular dynamic simulations. CNTs reduced the small and medium He clusters in the Fe matrix. When the incident energy of the He atoms was 300 eV, the He atoms aggregated at the outer surface of CNTs. CNTs postponed the formation of He bubbles. When the irradiation energy was higher than 600 eV, He atoms could penetrate the walls of CNTs and form clusters inside the single-walled CNTs or the space in double-walled CNTs—the latter presented better performance. The reduction of Frenkel pair point defects suggested the enhancement of radiation resistance by the presentation of CNTs. Our results might be useful for the material design of advanced steels for radiation resistance.
Highlights
The accumulation of helium bubbles is one of the main threats to the safety in operating reactors.As a main product, He atoms may form bubbles in materials, which result in swelling, voids, cracks, and embrittlement [1,2] of the structure materials
If the location of the upper single-walled CNT (SWCNT) was deeper than 6.5 nm, He would not interact with the SWCNT when the incident energy was 300 eV
Incident energies of the He atoms were (a) 300 eV; (b) 600 eV; and (c) 900 eV. The kinetics of He irradiation on both bcc-Fe and carbon nanotube (CNT)/Fe composites under low incident energy
Summary
He atoms may form bubbles in materials, which result in swelling, voids, cracks, and embrittlement [1,2] of the structure materials He irradiation resistance performance of structural materials is crucial in first wall material design in nuclear fusion reactors. The disperse oxides in oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel formed a large number of dislocation grain boundaries, which improved its radiation resistance [6]. Both nanocrystalline materials [7] and nanofoams [8] were proven to have good radiation resistance
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