A study of sink strength of dislocations through kinetics of loop formation under electron irradiation

The investigation of the sink strength of dislocations, ZE, for interstitials is experimentally performed through 1.6x10-13 J (1 MeV) electron irradiation around interface dislocations between βNB and βZr phases in a Nb-40.0wt.%Zr alloy. The value of ZE is determined using the fraction of interstitials annihilated by interface dislocations, which is derived from the decrement of the density and size of interstitial loops around the interface. The sink strength is successfully analyzed in terms of the dislocation array model [1-3] with the modification for the mutual recombination between interstitials and vacancies around the interface. (orig.)