A simplified approach to simulating irradiation-induced hardening. This approach relied upon the characterization of the interactions between a screw dislocation and irradiation-induced defects using molecular dynamics simulations. The pinning forces exerted by the defects upon the dislocation were estimated from the obtained results and some reasonable hypotheses. These forces were used as input parameters for a Foreman-Makin-type code in order to simulate the irradiation-induced hardening at 20C. The relevance of the proposed approach was validated by a comparison with experimental results. However, this work was to be considered to be only an initial step to facilitate the development of a tool for simulating irradiation effects. It might be improved in many ways, such as the use of dislocation dynamics code.

Interactions between Dislocations and Irradiation-Induced Defects in Light Water Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels. S.Jumel, J.C.Van Duysen, J.Ruste, C.Domain: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2005, 346[2-3], 79-97