Stability and formation of NiAl3 under ion irradiation

Abstract

Compound samples of NiAl3 as well as Ni23Al77 multilayered samples have been irradiated by either Xe or Ne ions to doses of 2 × 1015 Xe ions/cm2 and 1.3 × 106 Ne ions/cm2 at temperatures of 100 K, 300 K, and 373 K. In the case of compound irradiation, NiAl3 stability appears to be determined by regrowth kinetics and increased with lighter irradiating ion mass and higher irradiation temperature. The formation of NiAl3 by ion mixing Ni/Al multilayers was not affected by irradiating ion mass and appears to be limited by nucleation.