Molecular dynamics studies of displacement cascades

Molecular-dynamics simulations of cascades in Cu and Ni with primary-knock-on energies up to 5 keV and lattice temperatures in the range 0-700 K are described. Interatomic forces were represented by either the Gibson II (Cu) or Johnson-Erginsoy (Ni) potentials in most of this work, although some simulations using "Embedded Atom Method" potentials, e.g., for threshold events in Ni₃Al, are also presented. The results indicate that the primary state of damage produced by displacement cascades is controlled by two phenomena, replacement collision sequences during the collisional phase of the cascade and local melting during the thermal spike. As expected, the collisional phase is rather similar in Cu and Ni, however, the thermal spike is of longer duration and has a more pronounced influence in Cu than Ni. When the ambient temperature of the lattice is increased, the melt zones are observed to both increase in size and cool more slowly. This has the effect of reducing defect production and enhancing atomic mixing and disordering. The implications of these results for defect production, cascade collapse, atomic disordering will be discussed.