Atomic Defects in Metals · Al

This chapter provides information related to annealing of irradiated aluminum (Al). Defect annealing has been investigated by resistivity measurements after low temperature irradiations with electrons, deuterons, fast neutrons; only minor differences have been observed between fission and spallation neutrons and thermal neutrons, after quenching and plastic deformation. The influence of plastic deformation on the annealing of irradiated Al has been investigated in and for dilute alloys in literature. Properties of Frenkel pairs (FP), self-interstitial atoms (SIA), and vacancies (V) in pure metal are presented here. SIA-SA interaction and V-SA interaction data are listed. The chapter briefly discusses different stages of annealing. The high temperature peak observed after quenches from higher temperatures is attributed to larger vacancy clusters. The amount of isochronal annealing is dose dependent for e^--irradiations and to a much smaller extent for cascade damage. The influence of several SA atoms on the annealing behaviour has been investigated after e^--irradiation by different techniques. There is indication that oversized or slightly undersized SA show several annealing peaks within stage II annealing. In contrast to these oversized SA, undersized SA like Fe, Co, Cu, Mn form one trapped SIA-SA configuration (during stage I annealing) that is stable up to stage III, where the complex might be eaten up by vacancies. Vacancy SA-complexes are characterized by rather small binding energies in Al; there is reasonable agreement between high temperature diffusion data and low temperature quenching data.