Efficient simulation of kinetics of radiation induced defects: A cluster dynamics approach

Cluster dynamics has proved to be a useful technique to simulate the microstructure evolution under irradiation over long time scales, especially when rate equations are solved in a deterministic way. However, when the number of equations is large, which is the case when solute atoms are present in addition to self-defects, the numerical solving can become difficult. We show how it is possible to seamlessly couple rate equations to the Fokker-Planck equation, and to increase significantly the efficiency of the numerical algorithms. We apply these methods to the case of helium implantation in α-iron, followed by annealing at high temperature to analyze the effect of surfaces on the coarsening of bubbles.