Comparison between radiation effects in some fcc and bcc metals irradiated with energetic heavy ions - a review

It has been reported that there are substantial differences in radiation effects in fee copper and bcc iron. Whether these differences are due to the difference in crystal structure or not is the subject of the present paper. These differences have been discussed in terms of microstructure and mechanical property changes, whereas in the present paper, results of electrical resistivity measurements are discussed in terms of damage production cross sections, defect annihilation cross sections, damage efficiency and so on during and after various ion irradiations with wide energy ranges from 1 MeV to more than 100 MeV. For crucial discussion on the effect of the difference in crystal structure, nickel and iron are compared. These metals are allotted closely in the periodic table, with similar melting points and fairly strong electron-lattice coupling, both ferromagnetic and yet with different crystal structure. It may be concluded that as far as the damage production and defect annihilation cross sections and survival ratio are concerned, the difference in crystal structure is not an essential factor. Electronic energy deposition may play an important role even for low energy ions as well as for high energies. The effect of electronic energy deposition on defect clustering is discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.