Displacement cascades in Fe-Ni-Mn-Cu alloys: RVP model alloys

Primary damage due to displacement cascades (10-100 keV) has been assessed in Fe-1%Mn-1%Ni-0.5% Cu and its binary alloys by molecular dynamics (MD), using a recent interatomic potential, specially developed to address features of the Fe-Mn-Ni-Cu system in the dilute limit. The latter system represents the model matrix for reactor pressure vessel steels. The applied potential reproduces major interaction features of the solutes with point defects in the binary, ternary and quaternary dilute alloys. As compared to pure Fe, the addition of one type of a solute or all solutes together does not change the major characteristics of primary damage. However, the chemical structure of the self-interstitial defects is strongly sensitive to the presence and distribution of Mn and Cu in the matrix. 20 keV cascades were also studied in the Fe-Ni-Mn-Cu matrix containing < 100 > dislocation loops (with density of 10(24) m(-3) and size 2 nm). Two solute distributions were investigated, namely: a random one and one obtained by Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations from our previous work. The presence of the loops did not affect the defect production efficiency but slightly reduced the fraction of isolated self-interstitials and vacancies. The cascade event led to the transformation of the loops into 1/2 < 111 > glissile configurations with a success rate of 10% in the matrix with random solute distribution, while all the pre-created loops remain stable if the alloy's distribution was applied using the Monte-Carlo method. This suggests that solute segregation to loops stabilizes the pre-existing loops against transformation or migration induced by collision cascades. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.