Numerical simulation of irradiation hardening in Zirconium

A phase field model is developed to simulate interactions between gliding dislocations and irradiation induced damage loops (i.e., vacancy and self-interstitial loops) in Zirconium. Pinning contact interactions and long-range elastic interactions are simulated, with populations of defects generated based on experimental observations of typical damage microstructures in irradiated Zr. The model is employed to simulate irradiation hardening as a function of damage loop density. We find that the stress fields of damage loops contribute significantly to their effective obstacle strength, and that the elastic interactions cause the dependence of critical resolved shear stress on damage loop number density to deviate from analytical predictions of dispersed barrier hardening. The simulation predictions of the yield strength agree well with experimental measurements for different damage loop densities. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.