Vacancy dislocation loops in irradiated and annealed tungsten

Abstract

Electron diffraction contrast experiments have been performed to crystallographically characterize the dislocation loops which form during 1100°C annealing of neutron-irradiated tungsten. These experiments show that the loops are essentially pure edge in orientation, lying on or near {111} habit planes and having a/2⟨111⟩ Burgers vectors. The loops surround platelets of condensed vacancies which are believed to represent the excess vacancy population remaining after annealing of interstitials.