A unified model of electron stopping and electron-phonon coupling to better understand radiation damage in zirconium

电子停止和电子声子耦合的统一模型，以更好地了解锆的辐射损伤

• 批准号: 576687-2022
• 负责人: Béland, LaurentKarimLK
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: Queen's University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=759783
• 关键词: unified; model; electron; stopping; phonon

Structural materials in nuclear power plants are continuously bombarded by high energy particles, namely, neutrons. These high-energy particles transfer a part of their momentum to atoms of which the material is composed, which in turn will collide with other atoms in the material. This is why structural materials age very differently in nuclear reactors in comparison to structural materials used in other types of power plants. In addition, these high-energy atoms will not only collide with other atoms' nuclei, but they will also be stopped by their electronic cloud. This is know as electron stopping. These types of atomic collisions and electron stopping cannot be directly observed by experiments, because of the very small length and time scales involved. Therefore, we rely on computer simulations to help us understand them. The purpose of this collaboration between Queen's University and the University of Tartu (Estonia) is to develop a state-of-the-art electron stopping model for zirconium, which is widely used as a structural material in Canadian nuclear reactors. Using this improved electron stopping models, we will be able to more accurately predict and quantify radiation-induced damage as it occurs during nuclear power production in Canada.

核电站中的结构材料不断受到高能粒子（即中子）的轰击。这些高能粒子将它们的一部分动量转移到组成材料的原子上，这些原子又会与材料中的其他原子发生碰撞。这就是为什么核反应堆中的结构材料与其他类型发电厂中使用的结构材料相比老化非常不同的原因。此外，这些高能原子不仅会与其他原子的原子核碰撞，而且还会被它们的电子云阻止。这被称为电子停止。这些类型的原子碰撞和电子停止不能通过实验直接观察到，因为所涉及的长度和时间尺度非常小。因此，我们依靠计算机模拟来帮助我们理解它们。女王大学和塔尔图大学（爱沙尼亚）之间的这一合作的目的是为锆开发一个最先进的电子阻止模型，锆被广泛用作加拿大核反应堆的结构材料。使用这种改进的电子停止模型，我们将能够更准确地预测和量化辐射引起的损害，因为它发生在加拿大核电生产。