Quantifying He-point defect interactions in Fe through coordinated experimental and modeling studies of He-ion implanted single-crystal Fe

Abstract

Understanding the effects of helium on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of structural materials are among the most challenging issues in fusion materials research. In this work, we combine thermal helium desorption spectroscopy (THDS) with positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) and a spatially dependent cluster dynamics model to investigate the energetics of helium-point defect interactions in helium-implanted single-crystal iron. The combination of modeling and thermal desorption measurements allows identification of the binding energies of small He–V clusters, the migration energy of single vacancy and possible mechanisms (e.g., shrinkage of He3V2 clusters) responsible for measured Helium desorption peaks, and the effect of impurities (e.g., carbon) on these values. Furthermore, the model predicts the depth dependence of the helium and helium–vacancy clusters as a function of time and temperature during the thermal desorption measurement. Here, we report the THDS measurement results as a function of He implantation energy from 10 to 40keV at a fluence level of 1×1015He/cm2, along with selected PAS measurements. The experimental results are compared to the modeling predictions to evaluate the extent to which self-consistent values of the He-point defect binding and interaction energies and diffusivities can explain the data.