The microstructural evolution of a non-equilibrium system of primary defects was considered in which mobile point defects, vacancy loops and sessile interstitial clusters were continuously produced by cascade-damage irradiation. It was shown that, in a fully annealed metal, a spatially homogeneous microstructure could become unstable if the yield of vacancy clusters in collision cascades was sufficiently low. Unlike cases studied in the literature, in which sessile interstitial clusters were not produced, it was found that the instability condition could only be satisfied for a finite period of time, the duration of which depends on the density of the network dislocation. Spatial heterogeneity starts to form from a homogeneous vacancy loop population, leading to the eventual accumulation of almost all vacancy clusters within very sharp walls. The spatial distribution of interstitial clusters, on the other hand, was relatively homogeneous, simply following the spatial variations of the net interstitial flux. The spatial heterogeneity develops with the growth of some concentration peaks and the disappearance of others. As a result, the surviving peaks form an increasingly well-defined periodic structure. Nevertheless, as the total sink density of interstitial clusters and loops became sufficiently large, the periodic structure disappears, and spatial homogeneity of damage microstructure eventually returns.

Spatial Ordering of Primary Defects at Elevated Temperatures. A.A.Semenov, C.H.Woo: Physical Review B, 2005, 71[5], 054109 (14pp)