The dependence of radiation enhanced diffusion on the high energy particle flux

Radiation enhanced ordering in copper-zinc alloys was measured in the temperature region between 50 and 160°C by means of electrical resistivity techniques using 2 MeV electrons from a Van de Graaff generator. It could be confirmed that the ordering rate during irradiation is determined by an interstitialcy diffusion mechanism. It was found that the activation migration energy of interstitials increases from 0.60 to 0.70 eV for electron fluxes decreasing from about 3.5 to 0.035 μA cm −2 due to an interaction between the irradiating particles and the lattice atoms, in agreement with results of measurements of radiation enhanced self-diffusion in pure metals.