Energetic Stability of Vacancy‐Carbon Clusters in Solid Solution Alloys: The Fe‐Cr‐C Case

Abstract

In carbon‐containing alloys, the energetic stability of vacancy‐carbon (v‐C) clusters plays a key role in the post‐irradiation damage recovery. So far, all interpretations of post‐irradiation annealing experiments are based on the theoretical knowledge established for the iron‐carbon alloy. For the interpretation of high‐Cr steels, the stability of v‐C clusters in the presence of a solid solution background is essential. Therefore, a simple and efficient model to estimate the stability of v‐C clusters in random solid solution alloys is proposed. The model is parameterized for the Fe‐Cr‐C alloy using density functional theory. The results are discussed accounting for available experimental evidences.