Interconnection between irradiation creep and interstitial loop formation in fcc metals

The creep strain resulting from stress-assisted, preferential loop nucleation was — following an idea proposed by Lewthwaite —calculated for both the uniaxial and the biaxial stress state. Taking the texture into account the calculated creep is about one half as large as the observed creep. This small discrepancy can be reduced further by assuming that more than just three interstitials constitute a nucleus and/or by also taking into account the stress-assisted loop growth. A contribution to the creep strain may further arise from stress-assisted, anisotropic ‘swelling’. It is concluded that these processes might account for all or a larger part of irradiation-induced creep.