Void formation in irradiated copper, nickel and copper-nickel alloys

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Abstract
The formation of voids during neutron irradiation of pure nickel, pure copper and nickel-copper alloys has been studied. Part I concerns the fluence dependence of void parameters in pure copper and nickel irradiated at 285 °C and at very low fluences. The void swelling at these low fluences is not a linear function of the fluence, but varies approximately as (φt)2 in pure copper and (φt)2,7 in pure nickel. An attempt has been made to correlate the results with a homogeneous void nucleation theory. Part II concerns the void formation in copper-nickel alloys. In general, voids do not form in these alloys at least up to fluences of 2.4±1019 n/cm2. The lack of voids in the high copper alloys is explained by increased recombination of point defects. The lack of voids in the high nickel alloys is better explained by a vacancy trapping model.

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