The evolution of dislocation loop and its interaction with pre-existing dislocation in He+-irradiated molybdenum: in-situ TEM observation and molecular dynamics simulation

In-situ TEM observation and molecular dynamics simulation were used to investigate the evolution of irradiation-induced dislocation loops and their interactions with the pre-existing dislocation lines in molybdenum irradiated by 30 keV He+ at 673 K. The nucleation, annihilation, merging, size change, and types of dislocation loops were investigated in detail, and the hardening effect from dislocation loops was analyzed. With the increase of helium fluence, the volume number density of dislocation loops increased rapidly and then decreased slowly to a saturation value, while the average size of dislocation loops increased continuously until it reached an upper limit. Both 1/2 and loops were formed, with a proportion of 60.2% to 39.8% at 3.95 × 1015 He+.cm−2 (0.07 dpa). The pre-existing dislocation lines would suppress the nucleation and growth of the dislocation loops, while the irradiation-induced dislocation loops had a strong pinning effect on the dislocation lines and impeded their motion. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to clarify the atomistic mechanisms of some major features of the line-loop interactions observed in the in-situ experiment, which showed in a good agreement. The different interaction processes depended on the Burgers vector and plane of the dislocation loop, the motion and reaction kinetics of dislocation segments, and the external loading.