Microstructural changes induced by low energy heavy ion irradiation in titanium silicon carbide

Low energy ion irradiation was used to investigate the microstructural modifications induced in Ti3SiC2 by nuclear collisions. Characterization of the microstructure of the pristine sample by electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) shows a strong texturing of TiSi2, which is a common secondary phase present in Ti3SiC2. A methodology based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) was developed to measure the volume swelling induced by ion irradiation, and it was validated on irradiated silicon carbide. The swelling of Ti3SiC2 was estimated to 2.2 ± 0.8% for an irradiation dose of 4.3 dpa at room temperature. Results obtained by both EBSD and AFM analyses showed that nuclear collisions induce an anisotropic swelling in Ti3SiC2.