Deformation behavior of ion-irradiated polyimide

Abstract

We study nanoindentation hardness, Young’s modulus, and tensile strength of polyimide (Kapton H) films bombarded with MeV light ions in the predominantly electronic stopping power regime. Results show that, for all the ion irradiation conditions studied, bombardment increases the hardness and Young’s modulus and decreases the tensile strength. These changes depend close to linearly on ion fluence and superlinearly (with a power-law exponent factor of ∼1.5) on electronic energy loss. Physical mechanisms of radiation-induced changes to mechanical properties of polyimide are discussed.