ASPECTS OF SIMULATION OF NEUTRON DAMAGE BY ION IRRADIATION

In this paper the concepts of the simulation of neutron damage by ion irradiation are given. The fundamental damage correlation parameters are defined and applied to selected experiments that include damage production, microstructural evolution and steady state for high fluences. Important topics include (i) the production of freely-migrating defects and defect clusters, (ii) the effect of the spatial overlap of cascades with the debris from other cascades and extended defect clusters, (iii) the saturation conditions, and (iv) the transmutation-induced alloy changes. The advantages and disadvantages of using different particle irradiations to simulate neutron damage are critically discussed.