Radiation Annealing in Deuteron-Irradiated Gold, Aluminum, and Platinum

Abstract

The damage production below 8°K upon radiation, with 10-and 20-MeV deuterons has been investigated in Al, Au, and Pt by means of residual resistivity measurements. The influence of alloying, cold work, and quenching upon the absolute damage production rate and the radiation annealing was studied. Annealed and alloyed (0.03 at.% Zn) Al showed no radiation annealing, while cold working increased the production rate and produced radiation annealing. Quenched Pt showed an increase in both the damage production and the radiation annealing effect. When the number of quenched-in vacancies equaled the number of defects produced via irradiation, the production curves for annealed and prequenched Pt approached each other very closely. Annealed, alloyed (0.25 at.% Ag), and cold-worked Au specimens all showed radiation annealing, the treated ones about twice as much as the annealed ones, and cold work increased the production rate. From our results we can conclude that the theory of radiation annealing brought forward by Burger et al. (i.e., point defects already present are eliminated by defects created nearby) cannot fully explain the observed phenomena