T122 Radiation Effects, Mineralogy, and Materials Science of Actinides: In Honor of Rodney C. Ewing, 2015 Roebling Medalist (Posters)

Monday, 2 November 2015
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL RADIATION DAMAGED TITANITE AND TEMPERATURE INDUCED STRUCTURAL REORGANIZATION

Paper number: T122-9
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

This study provides new insights into the relation between thermally-induced structural reorganization and the macroscopic mechanical properties of radiation-damaged titanite. The natural sample contains ca. 30% amorphous fraction. Low temperature annealing affects only slightly the sample stiffness and leads to a softening resulting from the defect annihilation in crystalline regions. In the high-temperature annealing regime, amorphous domains recrystallize and this leads to further recovery of defects, reduction of interfaces, grain growth, and, in general, an increase in the long-range order. The thermally-induced recrystallization is accompanied by massive dehydration leading to considerable stiffening and hardening. This interpretation of the recrystallization process in titanite based on the correlation of new results from nanoindentation and Raman-spectroscopic measurements complementing previous investigations using thermogravimetric and gas analyses by Hawthorne et al. (1991) and infrared spectroscopy by Zhang et al. (2001). The new data combined with previous work leads to a detailed description of the annealing behavior of a radiation-damaged titanite, which is a complicated process that includes dehydration and atomic-scale structural reorganization. In order to minimize the influence of surface phenomena on the hardness measurements, the so-called “true” hardness was used instead of the standard hardness calculation (Oliver and Pharr 1992). A comparison shows that the Oliver & Pharr method clearly underestimates the hardness.

Hawthorne, F.C., Groat, L.A., Raudsepp, M., Ball, N.A., Kimata, M., Spike, F., Gaba, R., Halden, N.M., Lumpkin, G.R., Ewing, R.C., and others. (1991) Alpha-decay damage in titanite. American Mineralogist, 76, 370–396.

Oliver, W.C., and Pharr, G.M. (1992) An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments. Journal of Materials Research, 7, 1564–1583.

Zhang, M., Groat, L.A., Salje, E.K.H., and Beran, A. (2001) Hydrous species in crystalline and metamict titanites. American Mineralogist, 86, 904–909.