Electron irradiation damage in highly-graphitized C fibres was examined by means of transmission electron microscopy, in multi-beam lattice imaging mode, together with selected-area electron diffraction. It was found that the (00•2) lattice spacing was increased homogeneously up to about 11%, over the whole of the irradiated area, with increasing irradiation time. The structural order, parallel to the basal plane, gradually deteriorated although the order perpendicular to the basal planes was relatively well retained. Computer image simulations based upon previously proposed model structures, in which interstitial atom clusters were incorporated, could not explain the homogeneous dilation of the (00•2) lattice fringes.

S.Muto, T.Tanabe: Philosophical Magazine A, 1997, 76[3], 679-90