Dynamic Void Growth and Shrinkage in Mg under Electron Irradiation

We report <i>in situ</i> atomic-scale investigation of late-stage void evolution, including growth, coalescence and shrinkage, under electron irradiation. With increasing irradiation dose, the total volume of voids increased linearly, while the nucleation rate of new voids decreased slightly and the total number of voids decreased. Some voids continued to grow while others shrank to disappear, depending on the nature of their interactions with nearby self-interstitial loops. For the first time, surface diffusion of adatoms was observed to be largely responsible for the void coalescence and thickening. These findings provide fundamental understanding to help with the design and modeling of irradiation-resistant materials.