The influence of proton irradiation on the microstructure of pure Al films

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the microstructures of pure aluminum films irradiated with 160 keV proton by varying the irradiation dose. The vacancy clusters induced by proton irradiation in Al films are characterized by TEM, and the density and size distribution are determined. In the irradiation dose range of our studies, the density and size of vacancy clusters and the dislocation density increase with increasing irradiation dose. Our experimental results show that the dislocation density and size of vacancy clusters increase as the irradiation dose increases from 1×1011 to 4×1011/mm2. When the irradiation dose is as high as 6×1011/mm2, the number density of dislocation loops decreases, while the size of dislocation loop increases obviously. The vacancies tend to form larger clusters, accompanied by the formation of banded structures in the irradiated sample at higher irradiation doses. We found that there were small crystal orientation differences among the boundaries of banded structure. This banded structure is closely related to the degradation of mechanical and physical performance of irradiated material.