Moment tensor potential for static and dynamic investigations of screw dislocations in bcc Nb

A new machine-learning interatomic potential, specifically a moment tensor potential (MTP), is developed for the study of screw-dislocation properties in body-centered-cubic (bcc) Nb in the thermally- and stress-assisted temperature regime. Importantly, configurations with straight screw dislocations and with kink pairs are included in the training set. The resulting MTP reproduces with near density-functional theory (DFT) accuracy a broad range of physical properties of bcc Nb, in particular, the Peierls barrier and the compact screw-dislocation core structure. Moreover, it accurately reproduces the energy of the easy core and the twinning-anti-twinning asymmetry of the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS). Thereby, the developed MTP enables large-scale molecular dynamics simulations with near DFT accuracy of properties such as for example the Peierls stress, the critical waiting time for the onset of screw dislocation movement, atomic trajectories of screw dislocation migration, as well as the temperature dependence of the CRSS. A critical assessment of previous results obtained with classical embedded atom method potentials thus becomes possible.