ANNEALING OF DEFECTS IN FE AFTER MEV HEAVY-ION IRRADIATION

We report a study of recovery dynamics, followed by in situ, resistivi ty measurements after 100 MeV oxygen ion irradiation, in cold rolled F e at 300 K. Scaling behavior with microstructural density and temperat ure of the sample have been used to establish stress-induced defects f ormed during irradiation as a new type of sink. The dynamics after irr adiation has been shown to be due to migration of defects to two types of sinks, i.e. stress-induced defects as variable sinks and internal surfaces as fixed sinks. Experimental data obtained under various expe rimental conditions have been fitted to theoretical curves. The parame ters thus obtained from fitting are employed to establish the effect o f electronic energy loss and temperature on the recovery dynamics and stress associated with variable sinks.