Kinetics of radiation induced segregation and precipitation in binary alloys were studied by Monte Carlo simulations. The simulations were based on a simple atomic model of diffusion under electron irradiation, which takes into account the creation of point defects, the recombination of close vacancy-interstitial pairs and the point defect annihilation at sinks. They could reproduce the coupling between point defect fluxes towards sinks and atomic fluxes, which controls the segregation tendency. In pure metals and ideal solid solutions, the Monte Carlo results were found to be in very good agreement with classical models based on rate equations. In alloys with an unmixing tendency, it was shown how the interaction between the point defect distribution, the solute segregation and the precipitation driving force could generate complex microstructural evolutions, which depend on the very details of atomic-scale diffusion properties.

Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations of Radiation Induced Segregation and Precipitation. F.Soisson: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2006, 349[3], 235-50