Influence of dislocation and dislocation loop biases on microstructures simulated by rate equation cluster dynamics

Abstract Sensitivity of microstructures under irradiation to absorption biases of dislocations and dislocation loops is investigated by rate equation cluster dynamics (RECD). Contrary to standard rate theory which is often used to estimate sensitivity of cavity growth to biases, it is possible with RECD to quantify the effect of biases on nucleation, growth and coarsening of loops and cavities. For this purpose simple and accurate expressions for dislocation and dislocation loop biases are derived, based on finite element calculations. They are used in a RECD code to quantify the effect of biases on microstructures of austenitic steels irradiated with electrons. It is shown that biases have a strong influence not only on the loop and dislocation network evolutions, but also on cavity nucleation. Sensitivity to some other parameters of the model is also discussed.