Effects of Xe+ irradiation on Ti3SiC2 at RT and 500 °C

In this study, effects of a 400 keV Xe+ irradiation on Ti3SiC2 were systematically investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). At RT, results show that the Xe+ irradiation induced the dissociation of Ti3SiC2 to polycrystalline TiC first, and then the polycrystalline to TiC nanograins with the increasing fluence. However, there is no significant microstructure change observed on the sample irradiated at 500 °C. It is demonstrated that Ti3SiC2 had not been completely amorpherized even up to 116.9 displacements per atom (dpa).