Stage i recovery in electron irradiated iron

Abstract

Stage I recovery of 1.5 MeV electron-irradiated BCC iron has been studied by electrical resistivity measurement. In situ annealing of irradiated samples from 40°K to 140°K showed a complex substructure for Stage I recovery in both well annealed and partially recrystallized samples. Activation energies were obtained by Meechan-Brinkman combined isothermal-isochronal anneal method. Activation energies of 0.05, 0.10, 0.19, and 0.23 eV were determined for Substages I_A, I_B, I_C and I_D, respectively. The isothermal recovery of Substages I_B, I_C, and I_D is best described by first order kinetics. A trapping interaction between the freely migrating interstitial atom and lattice defects is apparent in Substage I_E. Results of this work are compared with other data for electron-irradiated iron and to various recovery models proposed.