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Structural Transitions Induced by Ion Irradiation in V 2 AlC and Cr 2 AlC
Author(s) -
Wang Chenxu,
Yang Tengfei,
Xiao Jingren,
Liu Shaoshuai,
Xue Jianming,
Huang Qing,
Zhang Jie,
Wang Jingyang,
Wang Yugang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.14118
Subject(s) - materials science , selected area diffraction , irradiation , amorphous solid , transmission electron microscopy , crystallography , fluence , microstructure , phase (matter) , ion , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , diffraction , analytical chemistry (journal) , nanotechnology , chemistry , composite material , optics , physics , organic chemistry , nuclear physics , chromatography
Nanolayered structural metallic ceramics, MAX phases, possess unique and highly attractive properties, including excellent radiation tolerance for some of them, whereas little is known about the detailed process of irradiation‐induced structural transitions. In this study, the microstructural transformations and the stabilities of V 2 AlC and Cr 2 AlC induced by 1 MeV Au + ions irradiation over a wide range of fluences were investigated by grazing incidence X‐ray diffraction ( GIXRD ) and transmission electron microscopy ( TEM ). GIXRD analyses show different processes of phase transitions and amorphization tolerance under irradiation between these two MAX phases, which are consistent with the selected area electron diffraction ( SAED ) results and the high‐resolution observations. TEM observations reveal that the nanolamellar structures are disturbed and respective phase transitions occur at relatively low fluences, with the formation of stacking faults. As the fluence increases, Cr 2 AlC becomes completely amorphous, while V 2 AlC are gradually transformed into face‐centered cubic (fcc) structure from the original hexagonal close‐packed (hcp) structure without amorphization, indicating that V 2 AlC is more tolerant of irradiation than Cr 2 AlC. Based on the phase contrast images and the electron‐diffraction pattern ( EDP ) simulation of the microstructures, mechanisms of the phase transitions of V 2 AlC and Cr 2 AlC are proposed and the difference of the irradiation tolerance between them is discussed.