IONIZING-RADIATION EFFECTS ON THE IONIC-CONDUCTIVITY OF NACL

Gamma irradiation or plastic deformation reduces the ionic conductivit y of NaCl single crystals because of the decrease of the extrinsic cat ion vacancy concentration. Two steps in the thermal recovery of this v acancy concentration have been observed to occur between 200 degrees C and 620 degrees C in pulsed thermal annealing experiments. The ascrip tion of these effects to dislocations and divacancy clusters acting as traps for the impurity-cation vacancy dipoles is discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.