Abstract
It was proposed that amorphous alloys may be more resistant to radiation damage than crystalline metals. In crystalline metals neutron induced transmutations lead to the formation of inert gas bubbles. These preferentially nucleate near line defects and result in embrittlement. Amorphous alloys do not contain sites where nucleation can occur preferentially. In this work the growth of argon bubbles in amorphous Cu[50]Zr[50] has been induced by implanting thin specimens with 80keV argon ions at room temperature. The bubble size distribution was obtained over the dose range 5x10[16] to 3x10[17] Ar[+] cm[-2]. Larger bubbles grew in the amorphous alloy than would have been expected to grow in a crystalline metal implanted under the same conditions. It was found that ion bombardment caused surface atoms to be sputtered away from the specimens at a rate of 2.3at.ion[-1]. The sputtering process led to saturation in the amount of argon retained by the material and caused the formation of copper rich near-surface layer. This layer also contained significant amounts of oxygen. Blister formation was induced at the surface of the amorphous alloy by implanting it with 100keV helium ions. At a critical dose of 3x10[17] He[+]cm[-2] a population of very small blisters was formed. These were the result of large bubbles forming just below the specimen surface. As higher doses were used the features joined up to produce large, thin-lidded blisters at a dose of 10[18] He[+] cm[-2]. These observations could not be completely explained in terms of the two popular models of blister formation, where interbubble fracture or lateral stress result in surface deformation.