| Abstract Scope |
Competition between ballistic mixing and thermal diffusion often leads to self-organized compositional patterning in two-phase binary alloys during irradiation. These compositional patterns are steady-state structures and thus provide radiation resistance. In order to extend their stability to higher temperatures, we consider here dilute additions of a second solute, C, to a patterning A-B alloy. We show using KMC simulations that the solute C, when binding to vacancies, can suppress diffusion of the precipitating solute B, thus promoting defect recombination and extending the patterning regime. However the effects introduced by the two solutes, patterning and enhanced recombination, are not additive, but rather there are complex couplings between alloy concentration, atomic interactions and sink density. For example, if the heat of mixing of the B-C system is lower than that of A-B, precipitation of the B solute removes the C solute from the matrix, thereby reducing its efficiency. |