Irradiation-Creep-Induced Anisotropy in a/2 <110> Dislocation Populations

The contribution of anisotropy in Burgers vector distribution to irradiation creep behavior has been largely ignored in irradiation creep models. However, findings on Frank loops suggest that it may be very important. Procedures are defined to identify the orientations of a/2 <110> Burgers vectors for dislocations in face-centered-cubic crystals. By means of these procedures, the anisotropy in Burgers vector populations was determined for three Nimonic PE16 pressurized tube specimens irradiated under stress. Considerable anisotropy in Burgers vector population develops during irradiation creep. It is inferred that dislocation motion during irradiation creep is restricted primarily to a climb of a/2 <110> dislocations on 100 planes. The effect of these results on irradiation creep modeling and deformation-induced irradiation growth is considered.