Microstructure evolution of zircaloy-4 during Ne ion irradiation and annealing: An in situ TEM investigation

The microstructural evolution of zircaloy-4 was studied, including the amorphization and recrystallization of Zr(Fe, Cr)(2) precipitates, and the density of dislocations under in situ Ne ion irradiation and post annealing. The results show that irradiation at a relatively high temperature and dose induces the formation of nanocrystals in pre-amorphized Zr(Fe, Cr)(2) precipitates. The recrystallized nanocrystals also have the structure of hcp-Zr(Fe, Cr)(2). The formation of the nanocrystals is thought to be the consequence of competition between atomistic disordering and the recrystallization of precipitates under ion irradiation. The free energy of the nanocrystal is lower than that of the amorphous state, which is another reason for the recrystallization of the precipitates. With increased annealing temperature, the density of the nanocrystals is increased. The dislocation density sharply decreases with the increase in the annealing temperature, and its size increases.