Irradiation Resistance of CoCrCuFeNi High Entropy Alloy under Successive Bombardment

With the excellent irradiation resistance due to the chemical complexity, high entropy alloys have attracted considerable attention in the design of nuclear structural materials. However, their performance under successive bombardments remains elusive. In this study, we have investigated the irradiation resistance of equiatomic CoCrCuFeNi HEA compared with Ni metal using molecular dynamics simulations. The evolution of defects such as point defects, defect clusters and dislocations after 400 times of bombardments is examined. The results show that CoCrCuFeNi has fewer point defects than Ni does. Moreover, CoCrCuFeNi has smaller interstitial clusters size, lower interstitial-type Frank partial dislocation density, shorter average interstitial-type Frank partial dislocation length and higher average vacancy formation energy. These findings suggest that CoCrCuFeNi has superior radiation resistance under successive bombardments due to its high entropy effect.