The collapse of helium platelets in molybdenum

Abstract

Platelets of helium in molybdenum have been observed to collapse into several small helium bubbles rather than into a single bubble [10]. We show that the driving force for collapse into n bubbles increases as n decreases. However, kinetic factors associated with the nucleation of ledges on the flat faces of the platelets ensure that the frequency of nucleation of several small bubbles far exceeds that for a single bubble. The temperature at which this collapse is expected correlates well with the observed platelet behaviour.