A study of electron irradiation damage in Zirconium using a high voltage electron microscope

• Published in: Journal of nuclear materials Vol. 96; no. 3; pp. 213 - 226
• Main Authors: Carpenter, G.J.C., Watters, J.F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.01.1981
• ISSN: 0022-3115; 1873-4820
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-3115(81)90565-1

Electron irradiation damage at 1 MeV has been studied in zircomium and Zircaloy-2, in the temperature range 315 to 725 K, using a high voltage microscope. At low doses, the damage takes the form of perfect prismatic dislocation loops of interstitial character, with Burgers vectors of the type 1 3 a<11 2 ̄ 0> . The loops form in bands parallel to the trace of the basal plane, by a process of preferred nucleation. A significant proportion of the loops appear to nucleate on {112̄0} planes in a pure edge configuration and reorient during growth to reduce their energy. Continued irradiation causes loop growth and interactions, resulting in the formation of a dislocation network. The results are compared with data from neutron- and ion-irradiation studies.