In situ study of defect migration kinetics in nanoporous Ag with enhanced radiation tolerance.

ABSTRACT: Defect sinks, such as grain boundaries and phase boundaries, have been widely accepted to improve the irradiation resistance of metallic materials. However, free surface, an ideal defect sink, has received little attention in bulk materials as surface-to-volume ratio is typically low. Here by using in situ Kr ion irradiation technique in a transmission electron microscope, we show that nanoporous (NP) Ag has enhanced radiation tolerance. Besides direct evidence of free surface induced frequent removal of various types of defect clusters, we determined, for the first time, the global and instantaneous diffusivity of defect clusters in both coarse-grained (CG) and NP Ag. Opposite to conventional wisdom, both types of diffusivities are lower in NP Ag. Such a surprise is largely related to the

SUBMITTER: Sun C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3894537 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature