A probable scenario of copper precipitate clustering in model FeCu alloys under cascade-damage irradiation

We consider below kinetics of copper precipitate clustering in model FeCu alloys under cascade-damage irradiation. The investigation is carried out for rather high copper content compared with the solubility limit. The nucleation and growth stage preceding the coarsening kinetics is analysed. It is assumed that atomic collision cascades create embryos that are the growing centers during supersaturation decay. The time dependencies of copper precipitates characteristics are obtained as a solution of the Fokker–Planck equation for clusters in the space of their sizes. The results are in a qualitative agreement with some experimental data on copper clustering under neutron irradiation.