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To explain irradiation creep, several mechanisms have been proposed. Some are based on the effect of stress on either nucleation or growth of dislocation loops. To investigate these mechanisms in aluminum we combine in-situ transmission electron microscope irradiation under stress and two simulation approaches (object kinetic Monte-Carlo, molecular dynamics Frenkel pair accumulation). We observe the selectivity of Frank loop variants under electron irradiation and applied stress. When the stress is turned on after loop formation, there is no loop variant selectivity, suggesting the absence of preferential absorption on already formed loops. Object kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations, including the effect of stress on the diffusion of point defects, show no growth rate difference between loop variants. Frenkel pair accumulation simulations exhibit variant selectivity of nucleated loops. This shows that loop selectivity is due to preferential nucleation of well oriented loops under stress and not to differential growth of loops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] We investigate the influence of elastic properties of point defects on dislocation climb under stress and irradiation. For this purpose, elastic dipole tensors and diaelastic polarizabilities are evaluated in aluminum for vacancies and self-interstitial atoms in their stable and saddle configurations, using density functional theory calculations. These parameters are introduced in an object kinetic Monte-Carlo code and a continuous diffusion model to estimate the stress dependence of dislocation climb, using a dipole of straight dislocations. We show that both parameters have an influence on absorption of point defects under stress, in agreement with previous analytical models. However, the effect of dipole tensor is found only 5 times larger than polarizability, whereas models predict a factor up to 30. In addition, including polarizability reverses the stress angular dependence when a uniaxial stress is applied orthogonal to the dislocation line, so in general polarizability cannot be ignored for simulations under applied stress. Further comparison with analytical models shows that they give a good description of angular dependence, provided saddle point configuration of point defects is not too anisotropic. For vacancies, which are strongly anisotropic in their saddle configuration, models fail to reproduce quantitatively lattice effects on stress angular dependence observed in simulations. Calculations show that dislocation climb velocity under irradiation is expected to be the highest if the stress is approximately orthogonal to the dislocation line, especially along the Burgers vector, and the lowest if the stress is applied close to the 〈 100 〉 direction with the largest projection on the dislocation line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]