EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF CASCADE PHENOMENA IN METALS

We review recent ion-irradiation experiments which have been performed to investigate the collapse of displacement cascades to dislocation loops in a range of metals and alloys. Many of the results including the dependencies of the collapse probabilities on irradiation temperature, and ion dose, energy and mass, can be explained within the framework of a thermal spike/cascade melting model which has been suggested by computer molecular dynamics simulations. Other aspects, such as the dependence of collapse probabilities on the crystal structure and the effects of alloying and impurities, are less well understood.