Various aspects of irradiation-induced damage production and accumulation in metals and alloys were considered. Results on the evolution of defect morphologies in individual cascades, on the global evolution of planar (cluster/loop) and 3-dimensional defect agglomerates (voids) and on the temperature dependence of defect accumulation - in the form of loops and voids - in face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic metals were compared. This demonstrated that damage accumulation in the form of clusters, loops and voids - and its dependence upon irradiation temperature - was markedly different in face-centered and body-centered cubic metals. These differences could arise because of significant differences in the number of surviving defects (in cascades), and the intra-cascade clustering of vacancies and self-interstitial atoms which was established during the thermal spike phase of cascades. It was suggested that theoretical treatments of damage accumulation in face-centered and body-centered cubic metals had explicitly to include the details of intra-cascade clustering of vacancies and self-interstitial atoms. In particular, the ratio of clustered to non-clustered vacancies and self-interstitial atoms was significant.

B.N.Singh, J.H.Evans: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 1995, 226[3], 277-85