Thin-foil-surface sink strengths when surface denuded zones are present

The interpretation of microstructural evolution processes in thin foils subjected to high-energy electron irradiation frequently requires the construction of an effective rate theory representation of the foil. To do this it is necessary to deduce sink strengths for the two foil surfaces that can be used in the representation. Such irradiated foils are frequently observed to have regions adjacent to each surface denuded of microstructure and in the present paper the authors derive foil-surface sink strengths that are appropriate for such spatially inhomogeneous conditions. These sink strengths are compared with alternative ‘homogeneous’ sink strengths and, as a demonstration, relative growth strain errors are calculated for irradiated zirconium foils to substantiate the appropriateness of the new foil-surface sink strengths.