Stablility of helium-vacancy clusters during irradiation

Abstract

One of the major uncertainties in understanding cavity nucleation and growth is the degree of stability of Helium-Vacancy Clusters (HVCs) in an irradiation field. Such stability is a complex function of irradiation variables (damage rates, helium production rates, and fluence), as well as material parameters (sink density, temperature, and defect parameters). The goal of investigating the stability of HVCs is to understand and consequently to model cavity size distributions. The present research first investigates helium-vacancy binding energies, which are then used in analysing the stability of HVCs under irradiation. The stability studies establish the critical HVC size, i.e. the Helium/Vacancy (He/V) ratio that ensures growth under specified irradiation conditions. Using these models it is possible to understand the cavity size distribution of various simmulation facilities. The fine cavity size distribution seen in many High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) experiments can be explained by the favorable irradiation conditions, which lead to “spontaneous” nucleation of HVCs. In Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR)-II experiments, on the other hand, the conditions for spontaneous nucleation of HVCs are not met, and nucleation is “delayed”, and occurs by stochastic fluctuations.