Theories of nucleation and growth of bubbles and voids

The application of classical nucleation theory to the formation of voids from a supersaturated concentration of vacancies is reviewed. The effect of a dissolved concentration of barley soluble gas on the nucleation rate of voids is emphasized. Exposure to a damaging flux of irradiation is the most effective way of introducing a vacancy supersaturation, but interstitials are produced at an equal rate. The concentration of interstitials inhibits the nucleation of voids which can occur only in the presence of dislocations since they preferentially absorb interstitials. It is well known that a definite value of internal gas pressure is necessary to stabilize a bubble so that it shows no tendencies to either shrink or grow. The arguments are reviewed which conclude that this pressure is determined by the specific surface free energy of the solid rather than the surface tension. While the former property refers to the energy necessary to create new surface, the latter is a measure of the work done in elastically stretching a a given surface. The presence of an equilibrium gas bubble leaves the stresses in the surrounding solid unperturbed only when surface energy and surface tension are numerically equal. A bubble with internal pressure greater than the restraint offered by surface energy tends to grow to relieve the excess pressure. The mechanism of growth can involve the migration of vacancies from remote sources to the bubble surface or the plastic straining of the solid surrounding the bubble. The kinetics of both mechanisms are developed and compared. The theory of growth of grain-boundary voids by vacancy condensation under an applied stress is also considered. (author)