THERMAL VARIATION OF DISLOCATION PINNING BY POINT-DEFECTS CREATED BY ELECTRON-BOMBARDMENT IN COPPER AND SILVER

The decrease observed in the pinning rate of dislocations by irradiation induced defects in copper between 80 K and 180 K has been interpreted by different authors as a proof of the validity of the two interstitial model. A critical study of similar experiments to date, shows that there are important differences between them; consequently, it is necessary to carry out the measurements of the thermal variation of the pinning rate and isochronal annealing experiments after irradiation on the same specimen and under identical experimental conditions. The authors have carried out this study for copper and show that when the number of pinning points does not decrease during isochronal annealing, there is no longer a decrease of the pinning rate. A similar type of experiment on silver yields analogous results.