Radiation damage and recovery of crystals:Frenkel vs. Schottky defect production

TL;DR

This paper explores the mechanisms of radiation damage and recovery in crystals, focusing on the roles of Frenkel and Schottky defects, and modifies rate theory to better understand phenomena like irradiation creep and void annealing.

Contribution

It introduces a modified rate theory accounting for Schottky defect formation at extended defects, enhancing understanding of radiation recovery processes.

Findings

Schottky defect formation can counteract Frenkel pair mechanisms.

The modified theory explains irradiation creep and void annealing.

Insights into defect interactions improve radiation damage modeling.

Abstract

A majority of radiation effects studies are connected with creation of radiation-induced defects in the crystal bulk, which causes the observed degradation of material properties. The main objective of this chapter is to describe the mechanisms of recovery from radiation damage, which operate during irradiation but are usually obscured by the concurrent process of defect creation. Accordingly, the conventional rate theory is modified with account of radiation-induced Schottky defect formation at extended defects, which often acts against the mechanisms based on the Frenkel pair production in the crystal bulk. The theory is applied for the description of technologically and fundamentally important phenomena such as irradiation creep, radiation-induced void annealing and the void ordering.