STABILIZATION OF CU-ZN-AL 18R MARTENSITE BY 2 MEV PROTON IRRADIATION

Irradiation experiments with 2 MeV protons were carried out in Cu-Zn-A l 18R martensite. It was found that the enhanced diffusion brought abo ut by the irradiation caused the stabilization of the 18R martensite. This behaviour is similar to that reported previously for electron irr adiation. The stabilization kinetics were studied as a function of the displacement rate k(0). The time necessary to obtain a given degree o f stabilization was found to depend on k(0)(-0.6). By comparison with previous electron irradiation experiments, an efficiency of about 0.26 was obtained for the production of freely migrating defects by 2 MeV proton irradiation relative to 2.6 MeV electron irradiation. The kinet ics of stabilization under proton and electron irradiation could be de scribed by a simple model based on rate equations.