Computer simulation of displacement cascades in tungsten with modified F–S type potential

Abstract Tungsten has been used for divertor materials in fusion reactor, which requires them to withstand high-energy neutron radiation. The produced displacement cascade has usually been studied with molecular dynamics simulation. In these simulations, most of the discrepancies come from the low reliability of the potential. To overcome this drawback, the extended Finnis–Sinclair potential has been modified by connecting ZBL universal potential. The potential performs very well in the case of the interaction between tungsten and point defects, fits well with experimental and other theoretical results. In this paper, displacement cascades have been simulated in the scenario of detection of Frenkel pairs and point defect clusters, using our new modified potential. The time evolution of the Frenkel pair has been analyzed, through comparing with the NRT predicted results. The effects of primary knock-on energy and temperature on point defect production have also been analyzed.