Dislocation loops and irradiation growth in alpha uranium

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Abstract
A successful electropolishing technique has been developed for preparing thin films of uranium with good transmission characteristics for electron microscopy. The technique has been applied to the study of irradiation damage in uranium, particularly the irradiation growth phenomenon. Dislocation loops are formed during neutron irradiation and analysis shows that these lie principally on {110} and {023} planes. In the absence of stacking fault contrast in the loops the most probable Burgers vectors are a [100] or ½(a2 + b2) for the {110} loops and ½(a2 + b2) for the {023} loops. These loops produce dimensional changes only in the directions of the macroscopic growth and contraction, [010] and [100] respectively. If it is assumed that the {023} loops are formed by interstitial atoms and the {110} loops by either interstitials or vacancies then the magnitude of the dimensional changes produced by the loops is in reasonable agreement with the macroscopic growth. It is concluded, therefore, that the formation of the loops is the mechanism of the growth phenomenon.

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