A comprehensive mechanism was proposed for the formation and growth of <100> interstitial loops in α-Fe. This mechanism reconciled long-standing experimental observations, of these defects in irradiated ferritic materials, with recent atomistic simulations of collision cascades and defect clusters in Fe; where highly mobile ½<111> clusters had been seen to be the dominant feature. The present work therefore provided a necessary link in unifying simulations with experiments with regard to α-Fe and ferritic alloys which were subjected to high-energy particle bombardment.

Mechanism of Formation and Growth of <100> Interstitial Loops in Ferritic Materials. J.Marian, B.D.Wirth, J.M.Perlado: Physical Review Letters, 2002, 88[25], 255507 (4pp)