Advanced SiC fiber strain behavior during ion beam irradiation

The in situ strain behavior upon ion beam irradiation of a Tyranno SA3 SiC fiber was investigated in real time. For this purpose, a tensile test device suitable for micrometrical samples was developed to allow studies in various irradiation facilities. A 7.44 μm diameter SiC fiber was submitted to both low mechanical loading at 300 MPa and 92-MeV Xe ion beam irradiation at room temperature. The fiber exhibited a gradual increase of its longitudinal strain reaching a maximum value of 0.50% for a total fluence of 5 × 1014 ions cm−2. Raman spectroscopy analyses performed on fibers submitted to the same irradiation conditions have shown significant local structure modification but no evidence of amorphization.