Electron energy dependence of amorphization in Zr3Fe

This paper reports the results from a study conducted to determine the effect of electron energy on the dose-to-amorphization of Zr₃Fe at 23-30 K. Zr₃Fe samples were irradiated in the HVEM at Argonne National Laboratory, at energies ranging from 200 to 900 keV. Amorphization occurred at electron energies from 900 keV down to 250 keV. Three distinct regions were observed: between 900 and 700 keV amorphization occurred at a constant low dose of approx. 4 × 10²¹ e cm^-2; a higher plateau at 10²² was observed between 600 and 400 keV, and finally there was a sharp increase in the dose-to-amorphization below 400 keV, so that at 250 keV the necessary dose was an order of magnitude higher than that at 900 keV. In the region below 400 keV there was evidence of a dependence of the dose-to-amorphization on the orientation of the sample with respect to the electron beam. The results can be analyzed in terms of a composite displacement cross section dominated at high energies by displacements of Zr and Fe atoms, by displacements of Fe atoms at intermediate energies and of secondary displacements of lattice atoms by recoil impurities at low energies.