Solid-solution hardening of bulk crystals

Abstract

Microhardness H of Cd 1−x Zn x Te bulk crystals (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) was investigated by the Vickers pyramid indentation. The H (x ) curve has a pronounced peak at x ≈ 0.75. In order to investigate a supposed phase separation, samples were annealed at 503 K, 558 K and 621 K for four weeks and at 896 K for one week under suitable partial vapour pressures. In all of them, neither the hardness was essentially altered nor any additional phases, except the solid solution, were found by x-ray analysis and electron diffraction. Nevertheless, the occurrence of nanometer-size clusters of either different structural phases or chemical compositions cannot be excluded.

Hardness as a function of composition for n-type LAST thermoelectric material

“…Another advantage of using an indentation load of 2.94 N is that it corresponds to the load levels used in the literature to study the effect of composition on microhardness [1][2][3]28].…”

“…For example, indentation testing has been performed to determine H as a function of composition for both bulk materials [1][2][3][4][5] as well as thin films [6][7][8]. For bulk materials often Vickers indentation is used to determine hardness [1][2][3][4][5] while nanoindentation is used for bulk materials as well as coatings and thin films [6,7]. The types of materials examined via hardness testing (microindentation and nanoindentation) include metal alloys [4,6], ceramics [5,9], bioceramics [10], and glassy specimens [11].…”

“…Thus, there are many microstructurally-based mechanisms that lead to hardness changes as a function of composition, including solid solution hardening [1][2][3], inclusions and nanoinclusions [6,7], and spinodal decomposition [14,15]. In addition to the often-observed correlation between hardness and composition [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], a number of material properties are functions of hardness, H. The mechanical properties linked to hardness include compressive strength [16,17], fracture toughness [18], and Young's modulus [19]. For example, an upper limit for the compressive fracture strength, σ c , can be estimated from the relationship σ c (upper bound) ≈H/3 [16,17].…”

Doping influence on the nanoindentation response of GaAs

“…In fact, RT response is poorly sensible to material's type in the studied range of composition. Much larger effects have been reported for solidsolution strengthening obtained for alloys grown with much higher concentration and hence the observed results are not unexpected [19][20][21].…”

Cd1−xZnxTe thin films formed by non-aqueous electrochemical route

“…Strain free detector can be prepared with lattice matched substrates. Cd 1−x Zn x Te bulk crystals also showed a solid solution hardening effect [16]. It can also be used for passivation of mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) ternary semiconductor.…”