AbstractsPhysics

In the face of the world's increasing demand for energy, and the need to find sustainable and environmentally friendly ways of producing that energy, fusion power offers an attractive possibility. However, the harsh operating conditions of future fusion devices poses a significant challenge for materials development and engineering. Tungsten (W) and tungsten alloys are current candidate materials for both structural and plasma-facing components, due to favourable properties such as good thermal conductivity, high heat strength and stability, and resistance to erosion. However, fusion reactor components will be subjected to high neutron loads, and little is currently known of the effects of radiation on the mechanical properties of this intrinsically brittle metal. The extreme conditions in a future fusion reactor cannot be reproduced in existing experimental facilities, rendering simulation an invaluable tool in understanding the radiation damage processes. Multiscale methods are necessary to span the length and time scales involved, from the picosecond and nanometer scale of displacement cascades giving rise to the primary damage, to the evolution of the radiation induced microstructure over the seconds of typical in-situ ion irradiation experiments, and further to the years of a reactor component s life time. In order to implement a multiscale simulation method, information must be distilled and transferred from the smaller scale to the larger. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are ideal for studying the primary damage, but individual cascades vary greatly, and simulating high energy impacts in MD requires immense computer capacity. It is therefore not possible to simulate directly the whole variety of cascade outcomes. General laws deduced from the MD data can, however, be used to statistically generate varying cascades in the thousands. In this thesis we use MD simulations to study the primary damage in metals, with focus on tungsten. We identify aspects of the simulation methodology which affect the results, and validate our methods by direct comparison to experiments. Detailed analysis of the primary damage from high-energy cascades shows the formation of novel defects, confirming recent experimental observations. We also show that defect cluster sizes follow a general scaling law, which can be used to statistically generate cascade debris as input for microstructural evolution models, circumventing the need to directly simulate thousands of cascades. Samtidigt som vi i dagens samhälle förbrukar alltmera energi, börjar de naturliga energi resurserna ta slut. Vi behöver därför finna nya, hållbara metoder att producera energi. Fusionskraften är ett lockande alternativ, som varken producerar växthusgaser, som vid brännandet av kol eller olja, eller svårhanterat radioaktivt avfall, som i dagens kärnkraftverk. Dessutom skulle ett fusionskraftverk vara mycket tryggare än det sistnämnda, för ett missöde eller tekniskt fel i en fusionsreaktor skulle omedelbart leda till att reaktionen upphör, utan den risk…