FORMATION OF NONEQUILIBRIUM SOLID-PHASES BY HIGH-ENERGY ELECTRON-IRRADIATION

HVEM is one of the most powerful and valuable techniques in the study of non-equilibrium solid phases, the manipulation of which is indispensable for the development of advanced materials. This is owing to the fact that various advantages of HVEM, such as the high penetration power, the clean incident beam and the simple primary defect, can be most effectively used in the in situ study of electron-irradiation-produced non-equilibrium solid phases. Recent HVEM studies to clarify the conditions in which non-equilibrium solid phases can successfully be produced under high-energy (approximately MeV) electron irradiation have been described, with emphasis on the study of electron-irradiation-induced phase decomposition in intermetallic compounds.