PNNL

Abstract

We have observed self-healing behavior in large scale molecular dynamics simulations of 30 keV Zr recoils in pure zirconia and 10 mole % yttria-stabilized zirconia. Our results reveal that dynamic annealing is highly effective during the first 5 ps of damage evolution, especially in the presence of oxygen structural vacancies introduced by aliovalent doping (Y3+ substitution for Zr4+). The presence of mobile oxygen vacancies results in near complete recovery of damage. Damage recovery on the cation sublattice is assisted by the anion sublattice recovery, which explains the remarkable radiation tolerance of stabilized zirconia. Ceramics engineered to heal themselves in this fashion hold great promise for use in high-radiation environments or for safely encapsulating high-level radioactive waste over geological time scales.