Resistance to He2+ induced irradiation damage in metallic glass Zr64Cu17.8Ni10.7Al7.5

This paper used TEM for the analysis of the microstructure, helium bubble distribution and helium bubble growth process of Zr-based metallic glass after the irradiation at maximum fluence. Fig. a shows the cross-sectional TEM sample morphology image of Zr-based metallic glass. It could be observed that a large number of helium bubbles were distributed on the topmost surface of Zr-based metallic glass (Zone A in Fig.a). The helium bubbles on the surface were mostly round, except for a small number of irregular-shape bubbles, with the sizes ranging from several nanometers to several tens of nanometers. The helium bubble diameter became gradually smaller downwardly from Zone A. As shown in Fig.a, the helium bubble size was small within the range of 0.3-1.2 μm below the surface (Zone B), and a large number of helium bubbles with a diameter of several nanometers were uniformly distributed in the area close to Zone A and Zone C; as shown in Fig.b, a helium bubble layer appeared within the range of 1.2-1.5 μm (Zone C) away from the surface, and it was found that the helium bubble size was larger in the vicinity of 1.3 μm away from the surface. Fig.b shows the atom vacancy distribution curves in Zr-based metallic glass before and after the helium ion irradiation obtained through SRIM program simulation. It could be observed that vacancy concentration peaks appeared at the ion range of 1.2 μm, and a large number of vacancies were concentrated at the end of the range. The vacancies of the sample were very easy to capture helium atoms and were conducive to the formation and growth of helium bubbles.