Nucleation of Pre-precipitates in Structural Materials under Cascade-Forming Irradiation

Abstract

A model is proposed to calculate pre-precipitate nucleation rate in supersaturated solid solutions under cascade-forming irradiation. Estimates of the rate of nucleation of copper-enriched clusters in Fe–Cu solid solutions with a copper concentration of 0.05–0.18 at. % due to reactor irradiation are carried out. A comparison with the experimental data on irradiation of structural materials shows that the formation of precipitate nuclei takes place in the cascade region involved at the final stages of cascade relaxation, whose volume is about two times higher than the cascade volume at the dynamic stage.