Grain growth and phase stability of nanocrystalline cubic zirconia under ion irradiation

Journal Article · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.82.184105· OSTI ID:21502874

Yanwen, Zhang; Weilin, Jiang; Chongmin, Wang; Edmondson, Philip D; Zihua, Zhu; Fei, Gao ^[1]; Namavar, Fereydoon ^[2]; Jie, Lian ^[3]; Weber, William J ^[4]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999, Richland, Washington 99352 (United States)
2. University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska 68198 (United States)
3. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York 12180 (United States)
4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 (United States)

Grain growth, oxygen stoichiometry, and phase stability of nanostructurally stabilized cubic zirconia (NSZ) are investigated under 2 MeV Au-ion bombardment at 160 and 400 K to doses up to 35 displacements per atom (dpa). The NSZ films are produced by ion-beam-assisted deposition technique at room temperature with an average grain size of 7.7 nm. The grain size increases with irradiation dose to {approx}30 nm at {approx}35 dpa. Slower grain growth is observed under 400 K irradiations, as compared to 160 K irradiations, indicating that the grain growth is not thermally activated and irradiation-induced grain growth is the dominating mechanism. While the cubic structure is retained and no new phases are identified after the high-dose irradiations, oxygen reduction in the irradiated NSZ films is detected. The ratio of O to Zr decreases from {approx}2.0 for the as-deposited films to {approx}1.65 after irradiation to {approx}35 dpa. The loss of oxygen suggests a significant increase in oxygen vacancies in nanocrystalline zirconia under ion irradiation. The oxygen deficiency may be essential in stabilizing the cubic phase to larger grain sizes.

• OSTI ID: 21502874
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 18 Vol. 82; ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ATOMIC DISPLACEMENTS
BEAMS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALS
DEPOSITION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
FILMS
GOLD IONS
GRAIN GROWTH
GRAIN SIZE
ION BEAMS
IONS
LOSSES
MEV RANGE
MEV RANGE 01-10
MICROSTRUCTURE
NANOSTRUCTURES
NONMETALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE STABILITY
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
POINT DEFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
REDUCTION
SIZE
STABILITY
STOICHIOMETRY
TEMPERATURE RANGE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0065-0273 K
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
VACANCIES
ZIRCONIUM COMPOUNDS
ZIRCONIUM OXIDES