Nuclear Microanalysis as a Probe of Impurity-Defect Interactions

摘要

It is shown that nuclear microanalysis offers unique opportunities for probing impurity migration and impurity-defect interactions in irradiated materials. The principles and practice of the technique are described and the special advantages and limitations are discussed. Procedures are outlined for extracting (1) impurity diffusion coefficients, (2) impurity-defect binding energies, and (3) trap generation coefficient of heavy ions used to create displacement damage. Examples involving the impurities deuterium and helium in austenitic stainles steels and nickel are described. Preliminary values are given for: the bulk diffusion coefficient of deuterium in austenite at 25 exp 0 C (1.4 x 10 exp -12 cm exp 2 /s); the binding energies of deuterium with point defects in austenite and of helium-3 in nickel (0.33 and 2.1 eV, respectively); and a room-temperature trap generation coefficient for deuterium in nickel-ion-bombarded austenite of approx. 15 per incident nickel ion. (ERA citation 05:030859)