In situ TEM annealing of ion-amorphized Hi Nicalon S and Tyranno SA3 SiC fibers

J. Huguet Garcia (1) , A. Jankowiak (1) , S. Miro (1) , E. Meslin (1) , Y. Serruys (1) , Jm. Costantini (1)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)

In this work, recrystallization of ion-amorphized Hi Nicalon Type S and Tyranno SA3 SiC fibers (4 MeV Au3+, 2 × 1015 cm−2) has been studied via in situ TEM annealing. Both fibers show a two-step recovery process of the radiation damage. First recovery stage starts at temperatures as low as 250 °C and implies recovery of the radiation swelling. Eventually the amorphous layer recrystallizes with no signs of polytype change (3C-SiC). Recrystallization temperatures yield 900–920 °C and 930 °C for the HNS and the TSA3 respectively. HNS fiber shows columnar recrystallization perpendicular to the amorphous–crystalline interphase with a grain growth rate of ∼20 nm min−1. On the other hand, recrystallization of TSA3 fiber is rather “spontaneous” with no preferential growth direction. The different recrystallization is attributed to the different microstructure of the fibers.

Keywords: SiC fibers; Ion-amorphization; Recrystallization; In situ TEM; Thermal annealing

Domains: Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

J. Huguet Garcia, A. Jankowiak, S. Miro, E. Meslin, Y. Serruys, et al.. In situ TEM annealing of ion-amorphized Hi Nicalon S and Tyranno SA3 SiC fibers. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 2016, 374, ⟨10.1016/j.nimb.2015.12.032⟩. ⟨cea-02418713⟩