Evolution of irradiation-induced strain in an equiatomic NiFe alloy

Abstract

The formation and accumulation of irradiation-induced atomic strain in an equiatomic NiFe concentrated solid-solution alloy are investigated using both atomistic simulations and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of irradiated samples. Experimentally, the irradiations are performed using 1.5 MeV Ni ions to fluences ranging from 1 × 1013 to 1 × 1014 cm-2. The irradiation simulations are carried out by overlapping 5 keV Ni recoils cascades up to a total of 300 recoils. An increase of volumetric strain is observed at low dose, which is associated with production of point defects and small clusters. Relaxation of strain occurs at higher doses, when large defect clusters, like dislocation loops, dominate.