Formation of periodic inhomogeneity of hardness under irradiation

Plasticity of metal under stress and irradiation changes dramatically and becomes one of the main factors limiting the operating life of nuclear facilities. Creep under irradiation increases by several times. At the same time there is significant growth of microhardness in metal under irradiation. In both cases the reason is the generation of point defects and further development of radiation damage of microstructure. On the one hand the generation and accommodation of point defects leads to formation of clusters and complexes which can stop the dislocation glide. On the other side the growth of defect concentration favours overcoming the barriers by means of absorption of point defects by dislocation