Ar irradiated Cr rich Ni alloy studied using positron annihilation spectroscopy

The present study focuses on understanding the effect of Ar ion irradiation at room temperature on Cr rich Ni-Cr alloy. The alloy is irradiated with Ar9+ ions (energy 315 keV) for total dose varying from 9.3 × 1014 to 2.3 × 1016 ion/cm2. The changes in the microstructure of the irradiated samples have been characterized by depth dependent Doppler broadening of annihilation radiation (DBAR) measurements using a slow positron beam facility. The variation in S-E profiles as a function of total dose corroborated with S-W curves indicates that the type of defects is also varied with the increase in total dose. The S-E profiles have been fitted using variable energy positron fit (VEPFIT) program considering a three layer structure for the irradiated samples. Estimated displacement damage profile as a function of increasing dose has been analyzed and a possible mechanism has been attributed to explain the observations made from S-parameter variation.