arXiv subjects

Ian Geiger

Publications and source records attributed to Ian Geiger.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Local chemical order suppresses grain boundary migration under irradiation in CrCoNi

Complex concentrated alloys with intrinsic chemical heterogeneity are promising candidates for nuclear applications, where local chemical order can strongly influence defect evolution under irradiation. Grain boundaries also contribute to radiation damage mitigation by serving as defect sinks, yet this interaction can alter interfacial structure, typically leading to destabilization and grain growth. This study investigates how chemical ordering influences grain boundary migration and stability during successive radiation events in CrCoNi. Using atomistic simulations, bicrystals were equilibrated to induce segregation-enhanced chemical order, followed by prolonged irradiation at 1100 K. Our results show that grain boundaries in random CrCoNi begin to migrate after only a few collision cascades, whereas those in the ordered alloy remain immobile until the chemical order is sufficiently disrupted. Single-cascade simulations reveal key mechanistic differences, where cascades near chemically ordered interfaces produce smaller damage volumes and reduced atomic displacement due to enhanced Frenkel pair combination within the cascade core. This limits both the residual defect population and the energetic driving force for interfacial rearrangement. Subsequent simulations of irradiated interfaces show that interstitial absorption induces a structural transition that modifies the segregation morphology at and near the grain boundary, demonstrating a dynamic coupling between ordering stability and defect evolution. These findings offer new insights into the role of local chemical order on defect-interface interactions under extreme conditions and highlight pathways for designing radiation-tolerant materials for next-generation nuclear systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Grain boundaries amplify local chemical ordering in complex concentrated alloys

Local chemical ordering strongly influences the behavior of complex concentrated alloys, yet its characterization remains challenging due to the nanoscale dimensions and scattered spatial distribution of the ordered domains. Here, we study chemical ordering near grain boundaries, demonstrating they can act as microstructural anchor points that amplify chemical order and drive the formation of compositional nanopatterns. Atomistic simulations reveal the development of composition waves with ordering vectors normal to the boundary plane in two distinct material systems, CrCoNi and NbMoTaW. These waves manifest as periodic enrichment-depletion patterns that reflect the underlying chemical ordering tendencies of each system, but with amplified contrast that extends several nanometers into the grain interior before gradually decaying. By examining multiple grain boundary orientations and alloys, we show that both the interfacial segregation profile and the crystallographic terminating plane govern the extent and character of this amplification. This interplay between boundary-dictated directional ordering and the diffuse, untemplated chemical domain evolution within the grain advances our understanding of interface-mediated ordering phenomena and suggests new opportunities for experimentally detecting local chemical order in complex concentrated alloys.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Frustrated metastable-to-equilibrium grain boundary structural transition in NbMoTaW due to segregation and chemical complexity

Grain boundary structural transitions can lead to significant changes in the properties and performance of materials. In multi-principal element alloys, understanding these transitions becomes complex due to phenomena such as local chemical ordering and multi-component segregation. Using atomistic simulations, we explore a metastable-to-equilibrium grain boundary structural transition in NbMoTaW. The transition, characterized by structural disordering and reduced free volume, shows high sensitivity to its local chemical environment. Most notably, the transition temperature range of the alloy is more than twice that of a pure metal. Differences in composition between coexisting metastable and equilibrium structures highlight the change in local site availability due to structural relaxation. Further examination of grain boundaries with fixed chemical states at varying temperatures reveals that the amount of segregation significantly influences the onset temperature yet has minimal effect on the transition width. These insights underscore the profound effects of chemical complexity and ordering on grain boundary transitions in complex concentrated alloys, marking a meaningful advancement in our understanding of grain boundary behavior at the atomic level.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Influence of chemistry and structure on interfacial segregation in NbMoTaW with high-throughput atomistic simulations

Refractory multi-principal element alloys exhibiting promising mechanical properties such as excellent strength retention at elevated temperatures have been attracting increasing attention. Although their inherent chemical complexity is considered a defining feature, a challenge arises in predicting local chemical ordering, particularly in grain boundary regions with enhanced structural disorder. In this study, we use atomistic simulations of a large group of bicrystal models to sample a wide variety of interfacial sites (grain boundary) in NbMoTaW and explore emergent trends in interfacial segregation and the underlying structural and chemical driving factors. Sampling hundreds of bicrystals along the [001] symmetric tilt axis and analyzing more than one hundred and thirty thousand grain boundary sites with a variety of local atomic environments, we uncover segregation trends in NbMoTaW. While Nb is the dominant segregant, more notable are the segregation patterns that deviate from expected behavior and mark situations where local structural and chemical driving forces lead to interesting segregation events. For example, incomplete depletion of Ta in low-angle boundaries results from chemical pinning due to favorable local compositional environments associated with chemical short-range ordering. Finally, machine learning models capturing and comparing the structural and chemical features of interfacial sites are developed to weigh their relative importance and contributions to segregation tendency, revealing a significant increase in predictive capability when including local chemical information. Overall, this work, highlighting the complex interplay between local grain boundary structure and chemical short-range ordering, suggest tunable segregation and chemical ordering by tailoring grain boundary structure in multi-principal element alloys.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Chemical order transitions within extended interfacial segregation zones in NbMoTaW

Interfacial segregation and chemical short-range ordering influence the behavior of grain boundaries in complex concentrated alloys. In this study, we use atomistic modeling of a NbMoTaW refractory complex concentrated alloy to provide insight into the interplay between these two phenomena. Hybrid Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations are performed on columnar grain models to identify equilibrium grain boundary structures. Our results reveal extended near-boundary segregation zones that are much larger than traditional segregation regions, which also exhibit chemical patterning that bridges the interfacial and grain interior regions. Furthermore, structural transitions pertaining to an A2-to-B2 transformation are observed within these extended segregation zones. Both grain size and temperature are found to significantly alter the widths of these regions. Analysis of chemical short-range order indicates that not all pairwise elemental interactions are affected by the presence of a grain boundary equally, as only a subset of elemental clustering types are more likely to reside near certain boundaries. The results emphasize the increased chemical complexity that is associated with near-boundary segregation zones and demonstrate the unique nature of interfacial segregation in complex concentrated alloys.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗