RADIATION-INDUCED AMORPHIZATION OF INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS - A MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS STUDY OF CUTI AND CU4TI3

In the present paper, important results of our recent computer simulat ion of radiation-induced amorphization in the ordered compounds CuTi a nd Cu4Ti3 are summarized. The energetic, structural, thermodynamic and mechanical responses of these intermetallics during chemical disorder ing, point-defect production and heating were simulated, using molecul ar dynamics and embedded-atom potentials. From the atomistic details o btained, the critical role of radiation-induced structural disorder in driving the crystalline-to-amorphous phase transformation is discusse d.