Single- and dual-beam in situ irradiations of high-purity iron in a transmission electron microscope: Effects of heavy ion irradiation and helium injection

In order to study the effects of 14 MeV neutron irradiation on materials used in the first walls of future fusion reactors, high-purity iron was ion-irradiated with and without helium in the JANNuS facility. Thin foils of high-purity iron were dual-beam irradiated in situ in a transmission electron microscope using 1 MeV Fe+ and 15 keV He+ ions. Several important results regarding dislocation loops and helium bubbles were obtained. For example, it was demonstrated that dislocation loops with a0 〈0 1 0〉 type Burgers vectors are glissile and can move and eliminate at the surface of the thin foil at 500 °C. A comparison of irradiations with and without helium showed that helium atoms reduce the mobility of dislocation loops in pure iron irradiated at 500 °C. Also, we demonstrated that the heterogeneous formation of bubbles inside dislocation loops found previously is also present for helium implantation rates of ∼80 atomic parts per million (appm) He/displacements per atom (dpa).