Abstract
Irradiation of materials frequently induces high supersaturations of vacancies and of dissolved inert gas atoms which may, under certain conditions, co-precipitate into voids. An expression is derived for the free energy change on forming such a void and is expressed in terms of vacancy supersaturations, the concentration and binding energy of the dissolved gas atoms, external pressure, strain energy and such usual ancillary data as surface energy and atomic volume. This free energy may be utilized to obtain boundary conditions for void growth and dissolution problems. An expression is derived for the homogeneous nucleation rate of voids, from which it is seen that externally applied pressures should usually have little effect on void formation. Dissolved gas atoms may, however, contribute as much to the driving force for nucleation as does a very high vacancy supersaturation. Finally, it is noted that in omitting the effects of solvent interstitials, the present analysis is not directly applicable to fast-breeder reactor phenomena.
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