Characterization of helium-vacancy complexes in He-ions implanted Fe9Cr by using positron annihilation spectroscopy

The formation of helium bubble precursors, i.e., helium-vacancy complexes, was investigated for Fe9Cr alloy, which was uniformly irradiated by using 100 keV helium ions with fluences up to 5x10(16) ions/cm(2) at RT, 523, 623, 723, and 873 K. Helium-irradiation-induced microstructures in the alloy were probed by positron annihilation technique. The results show that the ratio of helium atom to vacancy (m/n) in the irradiation induced HemVn clusters is affected by the irradiation temperature. Irradiated at room temperature, there is a coexistence of large amounts of HemV1 and mono-vacancies in the sample. However, the overpressured HemVn (m > n) clusters or helium bubbles are easily formed by the helium-filled vacancy clusters (HemV1 and HemVn (m approximate to n)) absorbing helium atoms when irradiated at 523 K and 823 K. The results also show that void swelling of the alloy is the largest under 723 K irradiation. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.