ELECTRON IRRADIATION HARDENING OF ALUMINUM-1 AT. % ZINC SINGLE CRYSTALS

Abstract
Al-1 at. % Zn single crystals were tensile tested after 1 MeV electron irradiation near 20°K. The increase in the yield stress due to irradiation was proportional to the square root of the electron dose with a proportionality constant similar to that in aluminum. The strain rate sensitivity of the flow stress in stage I increased proportionally to the irradiation induced hardening. The electron irradiation hardening appears to be due to randomly dispersed interstitials acting as obstacles to the movement of dislocations.