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Tungsten (W) and W alloys are considered as the most promising candidates for plasma facing materials in future fusion reactor. Grain boundaries (GBs) play an important role in the self-healing of irradiation defects in W. Here, we investigate the stability of point defects [vacancy and self-interstitial atoms (SIA’s)] in a Σ5(3 1 0) [0 0 1] tilt W GB by calculating the energetics using a first-principles method. It is found that both the vacancy and SIA are energetically favorable to locate at neighboring sites of the GB, suggesting the vacancy and SIA can easily segregate to the GB region with the segregation energy of 1.53 eV and 7.5 eV, respectively. This can be attributed to the special atomic configuration and large available space of the GB. The effective interaction distance between the GB and the SIA is ∼6.19 Å, which is ∼2 Å larger than that of the vacancy-GB, indicating the SIA are more preferable to locate at the GB in comparison with the vacancy. Further, the binding energy of di-vacancies in the W GB are much larger than that in bulk W, suggesting that the vacancy energetically prefers to congregate in the GB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We perform first-principles calculations based on density functional theory to investigate energetics and site preference of He in a bcc-W Σ =5 grain boundary (GB). The segregation energy is calculated to be −1.37eV, indicating that He prefers to segregate in the WGB. The formation energy of He in the WGB is positive and thus He is quite hard to dissolve in the WGB, similar to its behavior in the bulk. Because of its closed-shell electronic structure, He is shown to preferably occupy either interstitial or substitutional site with larger space provided by the GB, changing the GB electronic structure. Moreover, segregation of He gives rise to the WGB expansion. These structure variations can have a large effect on the mechanical properties of the W GB. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]