First-principles study of Frenkel pair recombination in tungsten

The recombination of one Frenkel pair in tungsten has been investigated through first-principles simulation. Two different recombination types have been identified: instantaneous and thermally activated. The small recombination barriers for thermally activated recombination cases indicate that recombination can occur easily with a slightly increased temperature. For both of the two recombination types, recombination occurs through the self-interstitial atom moving towards the vacancy. The recombination process can be direct or through replacement sequences, depending on the vertical distance between the vacancy and the 〈1 1 1〉 line of self-interstitial atom pair.