Multi-scale modelling of radiation damage in Fe-Cr based on ab initio electronic structure calculations

The efficiency of fast neutron reactors, such as for fusion, breeding and transmutation, depend strongly on the neutron radiation resistance of the materials used in the reactors. The binary Fe-Cr alloy, which has many attractive properties in this regard, is the base for the best steels of today which are, however, still not up to the required standards. Therefore, substantial effort has been devoted to finding new materials that can cope with the demands better. Experimental studies must be complemented with extensive theoretical modelling in order to understand the effects that different alloying elements has on the resistance properties of materials. To this end, the first steps of multi-scale modelling has been taken, starting out with ab initio calculations of the electronic structure of the complete concentration range range of the disordered binary Fe-C alloy. The mixing enthalpy of Fe-Cr has been quantitatively predicted and has, together with data from literature, been used in order to fit two sets of interatomic potentials for the purpose of simulating defect evolution with molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte-Carlo codes. These dedicated Fe-Cr alloy potentials are new and represent important additions to the pure element potentials that can be found in literature