Samples of pure Cu, Cu-0.05Si, Cu-0.3Ge and Cu-2at%Cu were irradiated with 1MeV electrons at 300K by using a high-voltage electron microscope. The volume size factors of the solutes were 5.08, 27.77 and 83.40, respectively. Interstitial-type dislocation loops and stacking-fault tetrahedra formed in pure Cu and in the alloys. In the case of pure Cu, the temperature dependence of the loop number density was such that hardly any loops formed around 373K. Below this temperature, most loops shrank and disappeared during irradiation. All of the loops grew larger at higher temperatures. The stacking-fault tetrahedra were unstable. In the case of the alloys, the loop number-density decreased monotonically with increasing temperature. Loop formation was markedly enhanced, except for complete suppression above certain temperatures in Cu-Ge and Cu-Sn alloys, Stable stacking-fault tetrahedra formed up to higher temperatures. The results were explained in terms of the trapping of point defects by solute atoms, the radiation-induced segregation of solute elements, and a bias effect upon point-defect absorption at defect clusters; due to the segregated solute elements.

Defect Structure Development in Electron-Irradiated Cu-Based Si, Ge and Sn Binary Alloys. Y.Satoh, T.Yoshiie, I.Ishida, M.Kiritani: Philosophical Magazine A, 2000, 80[11], 2567-90