Helium Bubble Linkage and the Transition to Rapid He Release in Aging Pd Tritide

A model is presented for the linking of helium bubbles growing in aging metal tritides. Stresses created by neighboring bubbles are found to produce bubble growth toward coalescence. This process is interrupted by the fracture of ligaments between bubble arrays. The condition for ligament fracture percolates through the material to reach external surfaces, leading to material micro-cracking and the release of helium within the linked-bubble cluster. A comparison of pure coalescence and pure fracture mechanisms shows the critical HeM concentration for bubble linkage is not strongly dependent on details of the linkage process. The combined stress-directed growth and fracture process produces predictions for the onset of rapid He release and the He emission rate. Transition to this rapid release state is determined from the physical size of the linkedbubble clusters, which is calculated from dimensional invariants in classical percolation theory. The result is a transition that depends on material dimensions. The onset of bubble linkage and rapid He release are found to be quite sensitive to the bubble spacing distribution, which is log-normal for bubbles nucleated by self-trapping.