Radiation-Induced Structural Instability in Concentrated Alloys: A Step to Spatial Ordering

Abstract

Irradiated metals and alloys represent open dissipative systems able to undergo structural phase transitions under certain conditions. Below, we analyse the experimentally observed process of periodic decomposition of some concentrated binary alloys. The defect production rate K is considered as a control parameter and must be large enough to cause spatial instability. Both the threshold value of K and the largest wavelength of growing fluctuations are presented. Such spatial instability is expected to initiate the self-organization process in alloys considered.