First-Principles Study of the Structural Stability and Electronic and Elastic Properties of Helium in α-Zirconium

First-principles calculations within density functional theory have been performed to investigate the behaviors of helium in α-zirconium. The most favorable interstitial site for He in α-Zr is not an ordinary tetrahedral or octahedral site, but a basal octahedral site with a formation energy as low...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jian Zheng, Huijun Zhang, Xiaosong Zhou, Jianhua Liang, Liusi Sheng, Shuming Peng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2014-01-01
Series:Advances in Condensed Matter Physics
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/929750
Description
Summary:First-principles calculations within density functional theory have been performed to investigate the behaviors of helium in α-zirconium. The most favorable interstitial site for He in α-Zr is not an ordinary tetrahedral or octahedral site, but a basal octahedral site with a formation energy as low as 2.40 eV. The formation energy reduces to 1.25 eV in the presence of preexisting vacancies. The analysis on the density of states and the charge density has been carried out. In addition, the influences of He and small He-V complexes on the elastic properties have been studied. The He-V complexes have been found to greatly affect the elastic properties compared with He alone.
ISSN:1687-8108
1687-8124