SWELLING WITH INHOMOGENEOUS POINT-DEFECT PRODUCTION - CASCADE DIFFUSION-THEORY

A theoretical model is described to evaluate the effects of spatially and temporally discrete production of point defects in collision cascades. Large fluctuations occur with time in the vacancy concentration. The interstitial concentration is nearly always zero except for extremely large spikes of short duration, corresponding to the occurrence of a cascade anywhere within the sphere beyond which all generated defects are absorbed by sinks before reaching the reference point. The growth rate of a void in this environment is compared to that given by the more approximate rate theory. The difference is small, but increases at high temperature. This work has implications for void nucleation, irradiation creep, and analysis of pulsed irradiations. © 1979.