Characterization of damage caused by heavy-ion irradiation of alpha-titanium

Factors influencing the collapse of displacement cascades in the hcp metal α-Ti have been investigated by a combination of ion-beam irradiations and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of single-crystal specimens. The probability of collapse is small in a light metal like Ti, but when collapse occurs the dislocation loops formed normally lie on the prism planes. When the incident ions are parallel to the basal planes, however, a small proportion of cascades collapse onto these planes. The probability of collapse is very dependent on the defect concentration in a cascade, but the size of loops formed in Ti is almost independent of the concentration and cascade size. (author)