Abstract
The intermetallic compound Zr3Fe has been made amorphous by 0.9 MeV electron irradiation. By performing this irradiation in situ, it was possible to conduct a systematic study of the influence of temperature, dose rate, electron energy and specimen orientation on the amorphization process. The critical temperature and the critical dose for amorphization were determined, and shown to depend on dose rate. By varying electron energy, we determined the displacement energies for the Zr and Fe atoms in Zr3Fe, and showed that, at low electron energy, the amorphization rate is dependent on specimen orientation. We analyze these results in terms of a model based on amorphization occurring at a damage level where the modified free energy of the irradiated crystal exceeds the free energy of the amorphous phase. This model is shown to predict the amorphization kinetics, i.e. the critical temperature and critical dose for amorphization. We also compare amorphization induced by electron and ion irradiation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 174-186 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
Volume | 270 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 1 1999 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Materials Science(all)
- Nuclear Energy and Engineering