Efficient simulation of kinetics of radiation induced defects: A cluster dynamics approach

Cluster dynamics has proved to be a useful technique to simulate the microstructure evolution under irradiation over long time scales, especially when rate equations are solved in a deterministic way. However, when the number of equations is large, which is the case when solute atoms are present in addition to self-defects, the numerical solving can become difficult. We show how it is possible to seamlessly couple rate equations to the Fokker–Planck equation, and to increase significantly the efficiency of the numerical algorithms. We apply these methods to the case of helium implantation in α-iron, followed by annealing at high temperature to analyze the effect of surfaces on the coarsening of bubbles.