Mechanism for unfaulting of an extrinsic Frank loop with < 112 > edges by glide dislocations

Abstract

The interaction between dislocations and radiation defects plays a critical role in the formation of a clear channel, which results in a heterogeneous, localized plastic deformation of irradiated materials. We applied a molecular dynamics method to simulate the interaction between an extrinsic Frank loop, which is the dominant radiation defects of austenitic steels and glide dislocations to investigate the mechanism of defect elimination. We found that two dislocations in two different parallel slip planes played cooperatively to remove the defect. This finding implies that a group of dislocations is responsible for a cleared channel by moving in a group and eliminating the defects.