Ion-irradiation effect on swelling and microstructure of BN particle dispersed liquid phase sintering SiC

The boron nitride (BN) particle dispersed silicon carbide (SiC) materials were fabricated by liquid phase sintering (LPS) with Al2O3 and Y2O3 sintering additives as the reference matrix material for SiC composites. They were irradiated to 0.1/1/3/10 dpa by 5.1 MeV Si2+ ions at 800 °C. Raman spectra indicated that the pure h-BN structure was partially destroyed following irradiation, while yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) structure at grain boundaries formed from the sintering additives wasn’t destroyed. TEM images and diffraction patterns indicated that the mechanism of microstructure evolution of SiC after irradiation up to high fluence at 800 °C was defect clusters induced by irradiation.