Nucleation of voids. Final report, October 1, 1971--January 31, 1977

The successful prediction of the conditions under which nucleation occurs in metals, as a result of the high concentrations of vacancies and interstitial atoms (and gas atoms) present in reactor environments, has been accomplished by (1) generalizing homogeneous nucleation theory to account for nucleation of matter (i.e., vacancies) in the presence of its antimatter (i.e., interstitials), (2) further generalizing the theory to account for the effects of both trapped and soluble gas, and (3) modifying the theory to describe interstitial loop formation and including the effects of external stress