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Irradiation‐induced brittle‐to‐ductile transition in α‐quartz
Author(s) -
Ravinder R.,
Kumar Abhishek,
Kumar Rajesh,
Vangla Prashanth,
Krishnan N. M. Anoop
Publication year - 2020
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.16951
Subject(s) - brittleness , quartz , materials science , silicate , irradiation , plasticity , nanoscopic scale , energy landscape , crystal (programming language) , composite material , chemical physics , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , thermodynamics , nuclear physics , physics , computer science , programming language , engineering
Silicate materials such as quartz and silica glass are inherently brittle in nature. Here, using atomistic simulations, we demonstrate that the quartz crystal exhibits a brittle‐to‐ductile transition when irradiated. We show that the nanoscale plasticity observed in the irradiated structure is reminiscent of metal‐like plasticity, which is neither observed in the isochemical crystalline or glassy structure. Invoking an energy landscape approach, we demonstrate that the local atomic self‐organization facilitated by the shallow energy landscape is at the origin of this plastic behavior. Overall, the results suggest that the irradiation could be a methodology to induce a ductile transition in materials that are otherwise brittle.