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 °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.