Microstructures of pure nickel induced by high-current pulsed electron beam irradiation

Abstract

The characteristics of surface feature and microstructure of the near-surface of nickel were investigated after high current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB) irradiation. Based on a physical model, the temperature profile was simulated. The depth of heat-affected zone, the initial melting position, heating rate and quenching rate were computed. The initial coarse-grained structure on the surface was refined, of which the size is about 70 nm. The TEM observations indicate that dislocation wall, sub-dislocation wall, twin and twin boundary steps were achieved on the surface of material after HCPEB irradiation. Furthermore, huge numbers of vacancy defect clusters including dislocation loops, stacking fault tetrahedras (SFT) and voids were also formed within the sublayer of the irradiated surface. The fact that supersaturation vacancies migrated towards the surface along grain boundaries and/or various dislocation configurations led to the formation of microporous feature on the irradiated surface.