Indentation fracture toughness of neutron irradiated silicon carbide

The indentation fracture toughness and other mechanical properties (elastic modulus and hardness) of high-purity stoichiometric chemical vapor deposition processed-SiC under neutron irradiation in a dose range of 1024-1025 n/m2 (En>0.1 MeV) at the temperature range of 80-1150 deg. C were investigated. Indentation fracture toughness decreased slightly at the temperatures below 400 deg. C, and increased above 400 deg. C, for example, from 5.08 MPa m-1/2 (non-irradiated) to 6.52 MPa m-1/2 (800 deg. C neutron irradiated). Mechanical properties investigated in this study were significantly dependent on the irradiation temperature up to 1150 deg. C, while generally independent on the irradiation dose up to 7.7 dpa signifying low-dose saturation