Study of modifications in the mechanical properties of sodium aluminoborosilicate glass induced by heavy ions and electrons

Radiation effects on the mechanical properties of sodium aluminoborosilicate glass induced by 4 MeV Kr, 5 MeV Xe ions and 1.2 MeV electrons have been investigated by nano-indentation measurements. Raman and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies were used to characterize the microstructure evolution of electron irradiated samples. The nano-indentation results indicated that the mean hardness was reduced by 12.8%, and the mean reduced Young modulus was increased by 3.5% after heavy ion irradiation. Both the hardness and reduced Young modulus variations reached stabilization when the nuclear deposited energy was around 3 × 1021 keVnucl/cm3. Although decreases of hardness (about 6.6%) and reduced Young modulus (about 3.1%) were also observed when the deposited electronic energy reached approximately 1.5 × 1022 keVelec/cm3 after electron irradiation, the results still emphasized that the nuclear energy deposition is the major factor for the evolution in the hardness and modulus of the sodium aluminoborosilicate glass under ion irradiation, rather than a synergy process of the electronic and nuclear energy depositions.