Comparison between Subsequent Irradiation and Co-Irradiation into SIMP Steel

A modern Chinese ferritic/martensitic steel SIMP, is a new perspective nuclear structural material for the spallation target in accelerator driven sub-critical system. In this work, aimed at exploring the radiation resistance properties of this material, we investigate the differences between simultaneous Fe and He ions irradiation and He implantation of SIMP steel pre-irradiated by Fe self-ions. The irradiations were performed at 300 °C. The radiation-induced hardening was evaluated by nano-indentation, while the lattice disorder was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Clear differences were found in the material microstructure after the two kinds of the ion irradiation performed. Helium cavities were observed in the co-irradiated SIMP steel, but not the case of He implantation with Fe pre-irradiation. In the same time, the size and density of Frank loops were different in the two different irradiation conditions. The reason for the different observed lattice disorders is discussed.

Highly stable visible-light photocatalytic properties of black rutile TiO2 hydrogenated in ultrafast flow

The hydrogenation and introducing oxygen vacancies (VO) can lead to surface lattice-disorder in TiO2, which is a new form of TiO2 named black TiO2, with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity, but this TiO2 is easy to failure because oxidation makes the concentration of surface VO decrease rapidly in a short time. In this work, black TiO2 nanoparticles with VO almost concentrated inside nanoparticles were fabricated under ultrafast hydrogen flow. These bulk VO shortened the bandgaps of black TiO2, enhanced its visible light absorption, and meanwhile provided extremely strong stability. A series of characterization methods confirmed the location of VO, and degradation experiments on Cr6+ or rhodamine B demonstrated the good visible-light photocatalytic performance of our material. After 18 months of natural aging treatment (in the air), our samples showed no discoloration and maintained 89.5% photocatalytic efficiency, and further study exhibited that this black TiO2 also contained excellent acid-resistance and moderate alkaline-resistance. This work could help design lattice-disorder to obtain more stable and practical black TiO2.

Cyclic Plasticity of CoCrFeMnNi High-Entropy Alloy (HEA): A Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) is a potential structural material, whose cyclic plasticity is essential for its safety assessment in service. Here, the effects of twin boundaries (TBs) and temperature on the cyclic plasticity of CoCrFeMnNi HEA were studied by the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The simulation results showed that a significant amount of lattice disorders were generated due to the interactions between partial dislocations in CoCrFeMnNi HEA during the cyclic deformation. Lattice disorder impeded the reverse movement of dislocations and then weakened Bauschinger’s effect in the HEA. The cyclic plasticity of CoCrFeMnNi HEA, especially Bauschinger’s effect, depends highly on the temperature and pre-existing TBs. Such dependence lies in the effects of temperature and pre-existing TBs on the extent of lattice disorder. This study helps further understand the cyclic plasticity of CoCrFeMnNi HEA from the atomic scale.