Semi-supervised generative approach to chemical disorder: application to point-defect formation in uranium-plutonium mixed oxides.

Chemical disorder has a major impact on the characterization of the atomic-scale properties of highly complex chemical compounds, such as the properties of point defects. Due to the vast amount of possible atomic configurations, the study of such properties becomes intractable if treated with direct sampling. In this work, we propose an alternative approach, in which samples are selected based on the local atomic composition around the defect, and the defect formation energy is obtained as a function of this local composition with a reduced computational cost.

Capabilities and limits of autoencoders for extracting collective variables in atomistic materials science.

Free energy calculations in materials science are routinely hindered by the need to provide reaction coordinates that can meaningfully partition atomic configuration space, a prerequisite for most enhanced sampling approaches. Recent studies on molecular systems have highlighted the possibility of constructing appropriate collective variables directly from atomic motions through deep learning techniques. Here we extend this class of approaches to condensed matter problems, for which we encode the finite temperature collective variable by an iterative procedure starting from 0 K features of the energy landscape activation events or migration mechanisms given by a minimum - saddle point - minimum sequence.

Role of Sink Density in Nonequilibrium Chemical Redistribution in Alloys.

Nonequilibrium chemical redistribution in open systems submitted to external forces, such as particle irradiation, leads to changes in the structural properties of the material, potentially driving the system to failure. Such redistribution is controlled by the complex interplay between the production of point defects, atomic transport rates, and the sink character of the microstructure. In this work, we analyze this interplay by means of a kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) framework with an underlying atomistic model for the Fe-Cr model alloy to study the effect of ideal defect sinks on Cr concentration profiles, with a particular focus on the role of interface density.

Equilibrium Vacancy Concentration Driven by Undetectable Impurities.

By means of ab initio calculations combined to statistical mechanics, we provide new evidence that an experimentally undetectable tiny amount of impurities can be responsible for drastic changes in vacancy concentrations ([V]), inducing large deviations from an Arrhenius law even at low temperature. It is the case of O and N in α-Fe. The present finding is fully compatible with existing experiments, and changes the previous common vision that C has the dominant effect.

A self-consistent mean field theory for diffusion in alloys.

Starting from a microscopic model of the atomic transport via vacancies and interstitials in alloys, a self-consistent mean field (SCMF) kinetic theory yields the phenomenological coefficients Lij. In this theory, kinetic correlations are accounted for through a set of effective interactions within a non-equilibrium distribution function of the system. The introduction of a master equation describing the evolution with time of the distribution function and its moments leads to general self-consistent kinetic equations.

Complex precipitation pathways in multicomponent alloys.

One usual way to strengthen a metal is to add alloying elements and to control the size and the density of the precipitates obtained. However, precipitation in multicomponent alloys can take complex pathways depending on the relative diffusivity of solute atoms and on the relative driving forces involved. In Al-Zr-Sc alloys, atomic simulations based on first-principle calculations combined with various complementary experimental approaches working at different scales reveal a strongly inhomogeneous structure of the precipitates: owing to the much faster diffusivity of Sc compared with Zr in the solid solution, and to the absence of Zr and Sc diffusion inside the precipitates, the precipitate core is mostly Sc-rich, whereas the external shell is Zr-rich.