Temperature dependence of irradiation creep due to dislocation climb

The creep of materials under irradiation due to dislocation climb is investigated theoretically. In calculating the irradiation creep rate, point defect recombination and the effect of dislocation pipe diffusion are taken into account. The mechanism of irradiation creep based on a stress enhanced jog nucleation on dislocations with favourable orientations with respect to the tension direction is proposed. This mechanism enables one to give a good qualitative description of the experimental temperature dependence of irradiation creep rate. (orig.)