Formation and interaction in ion-irradiated gold by in-situ observation

Atomic collision cascades initiated from high energy PKAs (primary knock-on atoms) produce defect clusters in metals and alloys irradiated with fast neutrons or energetic ions. They will affect not only the early stage of microstructural evolution but that at high fluence. The authors have performed heavy ion irradiation experiments with simultaneous electron microscopy using the 400 kV Cockcroft-Walton type accelerator/200 kV electron microscope facility. In this study, 99.9% pure gold is selected as a reference material for face centered cubic (fCC) metals. Thin foil specimens are irradiated with 400 kV Xe+ ions at elevated temperatures up to 700 K in the electron microscope, and cascade cluster formation and interaction processes are investigated from the video recording of TEM images