Track formation and dislocation loop interaction in spinel irradiated with swift heavy ions

Abstract

The microstructure of polycrystalline stoichiometric magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl 2O 4) has been examined by cross-section electron microscopy following 430 MeV Kr + or 614 MeV Xe + ion irradiation near room temperature up to a fluence of 1.1 × 10 16 ions/m 2. In addition, the microstructure was examined for two spinel specimens which had been preirradiated with either 2 MeV Al + ions or 3.6 MeV Fe + ions and subsequently irradiated with 430 MeV Kr + ions. The Al + and Fe + preirradiated specimens contained a high density (10 21–10 23 m −3) of interstitial dislocation loops with diameters between 5 and 30 nm prior to the swift heavy ion irradiation. Near-continuous latent ion tracks were observed in all of the specimens irradiated with swift heavy ions. The swift heavy ions also appeared to efficiently destroy pre-existing dislocation loops with diameters <5 nm, whereas larger loops remained intact following the swift heavy ion irradiation. The swift heavy ions caused structural disordering of the octahedral cautions, but did not appear to produce amorphous cores in the ion tracks. The disordered ion track diameters were ∼2.0 and ∼2.6 nm for the 430 MeV Kr and 614 MeV Xe ion irradiations, respectively.