Spontaneous Recombination of Frenkel Pairs in Neutron‐Irradiated Solids

Abstract

Abstract The accumulation of Frenkel defects in neutron‐irradiated solids is studied using a simple model of a displacement cascade. The lowering of the damage rate by spontaneous recombination of unstable Frenkel pairs is taken into account. The general equations are solved using the superposition approximation in which third‐order correlations are replaced by products of second‐order correlations. The saturation density of defects and the damage rate as a function of the density are calculated. By comparison with experiment the annealing and cascade volumes can be deduced for various metals.