Swelling of irradiated materials
Steady-state void growth in irradiated materials is achieved by an excess flow of vacancies to voids to courterbalance the excess flow of interstitials to dislocations. The swelling is small at low temperatures because of the dominance of interstitial -vacancy recombination and also at high temperatures where thermal reemission of vacancies from the voids is of importance. In the intermediate void swelling temperature region the magnitude of the effect, and its dependence upon dose rate, is sensitive to the scale and character (i.e., homogeneous or heterogeneous) of the nucleation of voids and interstitial dislocation loops, to the generation of helium by (n, alpha ) reactions (which counteracts the void surface-tension effects), to the magnitude of the applied stress and the density of deformation dislocations present in the unirradiated material, to the grain size, and to the dispersion of second-phase precipitates when present. These effects are incorporated within a rate theory of the swelling process, the results of which are summarized in a comparison with some observations from fast reactor irradiations and simulation experiments at high dose rates. (24 references, 8 figures) (auth)
- Research Organization:
- UKAEA Research Group, Harwell. Atomic Energy Research Establishment
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Sponsor not identified
- NSA Number:
- NSA-29-018981
- OSTI ID:
- 4937567
- Report Number(s):
- AERE-TP--542
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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