Atomic collision cascades in vanadium crystallites with grain boundaries

The effect of grain boundaries on the special features inherent to the evolution of atomic collision cascades and formation of radiation-affected regions in vanadium crystallites was investigated. The presence of grain boundaries in the material was found to have a considerable impact on the radiation damage pattern, specifically on the radiation-induced defect distribution and size. Grain boundaries were shown to serve as a barrier to propagation of atomic displacement cascades and to accumulate most of radiation-induced defects. Relaxed vanadium crystallites contained a relatively small number of clusters made up of point defects, i.e., vacancies and intrinsic interstitial atoms.