Bombardment was carried out, using step-wise changes in temperature, at 473 and 873, 673 and 873 or 873 and 473K. The resultant defect-cluster density was strongly affected by the pre-bombardment irradiation temperature. The suppression of interstitial-type loop formation was marked after pre-bombardment at lower temperatures. The results were explained in terms of the appearance of vacancy-rich conditions at the beginning of the higher-temperature bombardment; due to the re-clustering of vacancies which were formed at the lower temperatures.

Microstructural Evolution in Vanadium Irradiated during Ion Irradiation at Constant or Varying Temperatures. K.Ochiai, H.Watanabe, T.Muroga, N.Yoshida, H.Matsui: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 1999, 271-272, 376-80