https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00011090
Influence of the crystallite size on the phase transformation of yttria irradiated with swift heavy ions
1
CIRIL, CEA-CNRS-ISMRA, rue Claude Bloch, BP 5133, 14070 Caen Cedex 5, France
2
LERMAT (Unité CNRS associée n6004) , ISMRA, 6 boulevard du Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen Cedex, France
3
ESRF, avenue des Martyrs, BP 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
4
LSGMM (URA CNRS 159) , École des Mines, 54042 Nancy Cedex, France
Corresponding author: a dufour@labolermat.ismra.fr
Received:
27
January
2000
Revised:
13
December
2000
Published online: 15 February 2001
The irradiation effects induced by swift heavy ions are now widely described in `bulk'
materials. It is shown here that the behaviour of matter under irradiation depends on its
crystalline state in the sense that a given material is all the more sensitive to swift heavy ion
irradiations as the mean crystallite size L is small. The present paper relates the experimental
results obtained in yttrium oxide from `in situ' X-ray diffraction measurements. Three kinds
of sample have been irradiated: sintered samples (m), non-ground powders (L = 45 nm)
and ground powders (L = 28 nm). A cubic to monoclinic phase transformation appears if the
electronic energy loss of the incident particle is higher than a threshold. The comparison
between the different kinds of samples reveals that this phase transformation is all the easier
as the mean crystallite size of the target is weak.
PACS: 61.50.-f – Crystalline state / 61.80.-x – Physical radiation effects, radiation damage / 64.70.-p – Specific phase transitions
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2001