Exceptional radiation resistance of hardened amorphous SiC under high-temperature hydrogen ion implantation

Che, Shihong, Zhang, Limin, Daghbouj, Nabil, Jiang, Weilin, Polcar, Tomas, Ji, Runmin, Wang, Rongshan and Wang, Tieshan (2025) Exceptional radiation resistance of hardened amorphous SiC under high-temperature hydrogen ion implantation. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 45 (12), [117459]. (doi:10.1016/J.JEURCERAMSOC.2025.117459).

Abstract

This study provides a compelling comparison of the structural and mechanical responses of single-crystal silicon carbide (sc-SiC), nanocrystalline silicon carbide (nc-SiC), and amorphous silicon carbide (am-SiC) to hydrogen ion implantation at 650 ℃ across varying fluences. While both sc-SiC and nc-SiC exhibit blistering, microcracking, and exfoliation, am-SiC remains free of blisters, demonstrating superior resilience. Notably, nc-SiC, with its high density of stacking faults (SFs), requires a higher fluence to initiate blistering compared to sc-SiC. In sc-SiC, blistering leads to increased hardness, whereas in nc-SiC, the degradation of the SF structure results in a reduction in hardness. In contrast, am-SiC undergoes structural relaxation during irradiation, resulting in a significant increase in hardness while maintaining its structural integrity, with only the formation of nano-sized spherical bubbles observed. These findings highlight the exceptional suitability of am-SiC for nuclear applications, where resistance to radiation-induced microcracking is critical.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: Tomas Polcar

Download statistics