New mechanism of irradiation creep based on the radiation-induced vacancy emission from dislocations

A new mechanism of irradiation creep is proposed, which is based on the radiation and stress induced difference in emission (RSIDE) of vacancies from dislocations of different orientations with respect to the external stress. This phenomenon is due to the difference in vacancy formation energies, which is proportional to the external stress. The proposed model exhibits similarities with thermal creep models and it is distinct from stress-induced preferential absorption (SIPA) models based on the difference in the long-range interaction of point defects with dislocations. The RSIDE creep rate is essentially temperature independent and is proportional to the dislocation density, stress and irradiation flux. It is inversely proportional to the square of the vacancy formation energy, which is lower than the Frenkel pair formation energy. Experimental verification of the proposed model is discussed on the basis of the measurements of vacancy concentration and creep rate under sub-threshold electron irradiation.