It was recalled that the interaction between a vacancy and a self-interstitial cluster was usually treated as an annihilation reaction. However, recent atomistic studies had demonstrated that such reactions could be more complicated. The results were presented here of atomic-level modelling of the interaction between clusters of self-interstitial atoms and a vacancy in face-centered cubic Cu and body-centered cubic Fe. It was shown that vacancies annihilated only with interstitials at the cluster edge. Vacancies within the cluster glide prism did not recombine, but prevented cluster mobility. There were significant differences, in the interaction, which were related to the differences in the atomic structures of clusters in particular metals.

Interactions between Vacancy and Glissile Interstitial Clusters in Iron and Copper. M.A.Puigvi, Y.N.Osetsky, A.Serra: Materials Science and Engineering A, 2004, 365[1-2], 101-6