Accumulation and recovery of defects in ion-irradiated nanocrystalline gold

Effects of 60 MeV C-12 ion irradiation on nanocrystalline gold (nano-Au) are studied. The experimental results show that the irradiation-produced defects in nano-Au are thermally unstable because of the existence of a large volume fraction of grain boundaries. This suggests a possibility of the use of nanocrystalline materials as irradiation-resistant materials. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.