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Effects of Ion Dose and Irradiation Temperature on the Microstructure of Three Spinel Compositions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 February 2011
Abstract
Three compositions with the spinel structure (γ-AIVB2VIO4), MgAl2O4, FeCr2O4 and γ-SiFe2O4, have been irradiated with 1.5 MeV Kr+ ions over a temperature range (20 to 873 K). In situ TEM and HRTEM afterwork were conducted to characterize the effects of the ion irradiation on the microstructure. MgAl2O4 was the most “radiation-resistant” among the three materials. After irradiation to lx1016 ions/cm2 at 20 K, the cations were completely disordered among all possible tetrahedral and octahedral sites, but the oxygen sublattice remained intact. At room temperature, a high density of dislocation loops developed after this same dose, but there was no evidence of cation disordering. However, γ-SiFe2O4, a spinel structure type, formed under high pressure (7.0 GPa), was easily amorphized at low ion doses (σ1014 ions/cm 2) below 723 K, even lower than required for radiation-induced amorphization of its olivine polymorph, fayalite (α-SiFe2O4; HCP). At 873 K, the amorphous phase recrystallized to magnetite (Fe2+Fe 3+2O4, an inverse spinel structure) and quartz (SiO2) during continued Kr+ irradiation. Chromite (ideally FeCr2O4) with an actual composition of (Fe0.6Mg0.4)(Cr0.7A10.3)2O4 amorphized at 6x1015 ions/cm2 at 20 K, a dose about 20 times as high as that required to amorphize most other AB2O4 phases under the same irradiation conditions. A structural parameter, which quantifies the deviation from ideal packing in the spinel structure was developed and correlates with themeasured doses required for amorphization among these three spinel compositions.
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- Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995
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