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 (E_n > 0.1 MeV) at the temperature range of 80-1150 °C were investigated. Indentation fracture toughness decreased slightly at the temperatures below 400 °C, and increased above 400 °C, for example, from 5.08 MPa m^-1/2 (non-irradiated) to 6.52 MPa m^-1/2 (800 °C neutron irradiated). Mechanical properties investigated in this study were significantly dependent on the irradiation temperature up to 1150 °C, while generally independent on the irradiation dose up to 7.7 dpa signifying low-dose saturation.