Reallocation of impurity atoms in a supersaturated solid solution by thermodiffusion in collision cascades

We consider a weak supersaturated binary solid solution under continuous irradiation. Irradiation produces collision cascades in the media. Local energy deposition within a cascade zone, as is known, causes relaxation of the excess temperature to an ambient level. A simple model, that is taking into account the effect of temperature relaxation to a clustering formation of alloying atoms, is presented. The model is based on general principles of irreversible non-equilibrium thermodynamics. It is shown that the relaxation and thermodiffusion processes in supersaturated alloys may result in spatial redistribution of solute atoms in the media.