Helium effects on irradiation dmage in V alloys

Preliminary investigations were performed on V-4Cr-4Ti samples to observe the effects of He on the irradiation induced microstructural changes by subjecting 3 mm electropolished V-4Cr-4Ti TEM disks, with and without prior He implantation, to 200 keV He irradiation at room temperature and monitoring, in-situ, the microstructural evolution as a function of total dose with an intermediate voltage electron microscope directly connected to an ion implanter. A high density of black dot defects were formed at very low doses in both He pre-implanted and unimplanted samples.