In ionic crystals or other insulators with partial ionic binding, the ion-target interaction differs from that of neutral atoms due to different electronic distributions and overall electrical charges Consequently, the nuclear stopping power and defect production by recoiling atoms will deviate from standard values, obtained from e g Moliere-potentials In the present paper, realistic potentials between projectile ion and target ion are determined by the free electron gas model of overlapping Hartree-Fock-Slater or Lenz-Jensen ions (and neutral atoms for comparison) With the new potentials, the transferred energies T and the range of interaction is determined for either damage production (T>Ed) and for nuclear stopping (T>hω> for bound ions) In addition the excitation of optical phonons is taken into account which are excited by the transient electrical field of the charged projectile