Mechanical properties of swift heavy ion irradiated Y3Al5O12 single crystal

Abstract

The present investigation is devoted to the study of the nano-mechanical properties of Y3Al5O12 single crystal irradiated with swift heavy ions using nano-indentation technique. The irradiations were performed at GANIL accelerator, Caen, France with 561 MeV 51Cr, 90 MeV 51Cr ions, 278 MeV 128Te, 193 MeV 208Pb and 885 MeV 238U ion beams. The electronic stopping power Se range is from 6 keV/nm to 46 keV/nm. The nano-indentation tests reveal that both hardness and Young’s modulus decrease with fluence and reach a saturation value depending on the ion species and electronic stopping power. From the comparison with our earlier experimental data obtained using X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements, we conclude that the hardness and Young’s modulus modification is related to the stress level created along the swift heavy ion path.