Abstract
A grand challenge in material science is to understand the correlation between intrinsic
properties and defect dynamics. Radiation tolerant materials are in great demand for safe
operation and advancement of nuclear and aerospace systems. Unlike traditional approaches
that rely on microstructural and nanoscale features to mitigate radiation damage, this study
demonstrates enhancement of radiation tolerance with the suppression of void formation by
two orders magnitude at elevated temperatures in equiatomic single-phase concentrated
solid solution alloys, and more importantly, reveals its controlling mechanism through a
detailed analysis of the depth distribution of defect clusters and an atomistic computer
simulation. The enhanced swelling resistance is attributed to the tailored interstitial defect
cluster motion in the alloys from a long-range one-dimensional mode to a short-range
three-dimensional mode, which leads to enhanced point defect recombination. The results
suggest design criteria for next generation radiation tolerant structural alloys.