A comparative study of topology and local disorder in Y 2 O 3, Y 2 TiO 5, and Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 crystals

• Published in: Journal of applied physics 2019-01, Vol.125 (2)
• Main Authors: Dholakia, Manan, Chandra, Sharat, Mathi Jaya, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-8979; 1089-7550
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5059351

Y 2 O 3, Y 2 TiO 5, and Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 precipitates are the key ingredients of the oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels, and a study of their irradiation behavior and amorphization resistance is very important for the nuclear industry. We perform molecular dynamics simulations of disorder induced by displacement cascades and by equilibrating the systems at high temperatures and study the topology and defect morphology using various analyses. The studies show that a radiation damaged and a melted system can have very different topologies, and this difference can be effectively discerned by a topology based analysis. It is shown that all the three systems are constrained and quite resistant to amorphization; however, Y 2 O 3 and Y 2 Ti 2 O 7 have a better resistance to amorphization as compared to Y 2 TiO 5.