''The Incubation Period for Void Swelling and its Dependence on Temperature, Dose Rate, and Dislocation Structure Evolution''
Void swelling in structural materials used for nuclear reactors is characterized by an incubation period whose duration largely determines the usefulness of the material for core components. Significant evolution of the dislocation and void microstructures that control radiation-induced swelling can occur during this period. Thus, a theory of incubation must treat time-dependent void nucleation in combination with dislocation evolution, in which the sink strengths of voids and dislocations change in concert. We present theoretical results for void nucleation and growth including the time-dependent, self-consistent coupling of point defect concentrations to the evolution of both void populations and dislocation density. Simulations show that the incubation radiation dose is a strong function of the starting dislocation density and of the dislocation bias factors for vacancy and interstitial absorption. Irradiation dose rate and temperature also affect the duration of incubation. The results are in general agreement with experiment for high purity metals.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15005693
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-148778; TRN: US200324%%64
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 21st Symposium on Effects of Radiation on Materials, Tucson, AZ (US), 06/18/2002--06/20/2002; Other Information: PBD: 13 Jun 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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