Nanoscale patterning of composition and chemical order induced by displacement cascades in irradiated alloys

When irradiation leads to the production of dense displacement cascades, it is predicted at the composition and the chemical order in metallic alloys may undergo spontaneous formation of nanoscale patterns. These predictions, which are based on continuum kinetic models and atomistic simulations, are reviewed and compared with available experimental data. If these predictions were confirmed, ion beam processing would offer a route for the direct synthesis of nanoscale patterns of composition and degree of order, with tunable length.