Ri. Ristic et al., THE INFLUENCE OF SYNCHROTRON-RADIATION-INDUCED STRAIN ON THE GROWTH AND DISSOLUTION OF BRITTLE AND DUCTILE MATERIALS, Journal of crystal growth, 179(1-2), 1997, pp. 205-212
Sodium chlorate (brittle) and sodium nitrate (ductile) crystals were i
rradiated by synchrotron radiation to produce samples in which one-hal
f of a particular crystal was strained by radiation damage and the oth
er not. The growth and dissolution kinetics of these samples were inve
stigated using in situ laser interferometry and X-ray topography. An a
ppreciable difference was observed in the growth and dissolution kinet
ics of the irradiated and nonirradiated halves. In the region of very
low supersaturation, sigma < sigma(c) = 0.32% for sodium chlorate and
sigma < sigma(c) = 0.065% for sodium nitrate, the irradiated portions
of both types of crystals dissolved; simultaneously, the nonirradiated
portions grew. Above the critical supersaturation, sigma(c), both hal
ves grew. This defines a difference in solubility between the irradiat
ed and nonirradiated material. The significant difference between the
two critical supersaturations in the two materials confirms our earlie
r findings that a larger amount of elastic strain per unit volume can
be introduced into brittle materials than into ductile ones. This, in
turn, has a much stronger effect on both growth and dissolution kineti
cs. Irradiation is shown to yield pure point defect strain and not to
introduce dislocations in the system. A possible mechanism by which st
rain influences the growth and dissolution kinetics is discussed.