Structural modifications induces by swift heavy ions in cubic stabilized zirconia : an X-ray diffraction investigation

X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to investigate the damage and the correlated stress induced by the slowing-down of swift heavy ions in cubic zirconia polycrystals doped with 10 mol% Y2O3. Samples were irradiated at room temperature with 944 MeV Pb ions at the GANIL accelerator in Caen and 2.6 GeV U ions at the UNILAC accelerator in Darmstadt at fluences ranging from 5 × 1011 to 4 × 1013 cm−2. Changes of XRD profiles with increasing fluences were then examined using the X-ray diffractometer of the LEMHE/ICMMO in Orsay. Residual macroscopic stresses induced by irradiation were determined by the sin2ψ method. The lattice strain, obtained by a Williamson-Hall analysis of the XRD profiles, obeys a single impact model and the measured diameter of the Pb-ion track is 4.7 nm.