Atomic level simulations of interaction between edge dislocations and irradiation induced ellipsoidal voids in alpha-iron

High concentrations of vacancies tend to be formed inside the metal materials under irradiation, and then accumulate and cluster together gradually to promote the formation of nanovoids. Generally, these voids act as obstacles for dislocation glide and thereby change/degrade the mechanical behavior of irradiated materials. In this work, the interaction between ellipsoidal nanovoids with edge dislocations in alpha-iron has been studied by atomic simulations. The results illuminate that the ellipsoidal void's semi-major axis on the slip plane and parallel to the dislocation line is the dominant factor controlling the obstacle strength of ellipsoidal nanovoids. Two other semi-major axes, which are perpendicular to the glide plane and parallel to the Burgers vector, respectively, can also influence the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) for dislocation shearing the ellipsoidal void. The intrinsic atomic mechanisms controlling above phenomena, such as nanovoid-geometry spatial constraint and nanovoid-surface curvature on dislocation evolution, have been discussed carefully. The classical continuum model has been amended to describe the dislocation-ellipsoidal nanovoid interaction base on current results. In addition, the influence of temperature on the CRSS of ellipsoidal nanovoids has also been investigated.