Comparison of stage i of the recovery of thermal and fast neutron damage in copper, silver and platinum

Abstract

Abstract Specimens of Cu, Ag and Pt were irradiated in a fast neutron (f.n.) flux to a dose of about 2.5 × 1015 n/cm2, yielding defect densities of about 4 × 10−7, and stored at 4.4 K. Specimens with the same prehistory were irradiated in a thermal neutron flux until the resistivity changes were the same as those recorded for the fast neutron irradiation. All samples were simultaneously annealed according to an isochronal programme. The annealing peak temperature of stage IE of Cu could be related to the well known electron damage data. For silver, a stage similar to IE was found in the (n, γ)-damaged sample. In platinum prominent stages IE were found both in the (n, γ)-damaged and f. n. damaged samples. Stage IE is somewhat smaller in the f.n. irradiated samples, compared with the (n, γ)-damaged samples.