The effect of displacement damage on bubble growth

Abstract

In a previous paper we reported the growth of helium bubbles in a 12% Cr ferritic steel under isothermal conditions. These studies have been extended to determine the effect of concurrent displacement damage on bubble growth. Damage introduced by high energy electrons or by heavy ion bombardment is found to have a negligible effect on bubble migration and the growth of bubble populations, even at the high displacement rates associated with electron irradiation experiments. An analysis of the frequency of step nucleation on a bubble facet which is required to confer detectable mobility on the bubble shows that the displacement damage rate would have to be extremely high to enhance bubble mobility appreciably.