Analysis of Obstacle Hardening Models Using Dislocation Dynamics: Application to Irradiation-Induced Defects

Irradiation hardening in \(\alpha \)-iron represents a critical factor in nuclear reactor design and lifetime prediction. The dispersed barrier hardening, Friedel Kroupa Hirsch (FKH), and Bacon Kocks Scattergood (BKS) models have been proposed to predict hardening caused by dislocation obstacles in metals, but the limits of their applicability have never been investigated for varying defect types, sizes, and densities. In this work, dislocation dynamics calculations of irradiation-induced obstacle hardening in the athermal case were compared to these models for voids, self-interstitial atom (SIA) loops, and a combination of the two types. The BKS model was found to accurately predict hardening due to voids, whereas the FKH model was superior for SIA loops. For both loops and voids, the hardening from a normal distribution of defects was compared to that from the mean size, and was shown to have no statistically significant dependence on the distribution. A mean size approach was also shown to be valid for an asymmetric distribution of voids. A non-linear superposition principle was shown to predict the hardening from the simultaneous presence of voids and SIA loops.