Swift heavy ion tracks in Y2Ti2O7 nanoparticles in EP450 ODS steel

Structural changes induced by 1.2 MeV/amu xenon, krypton and argon ion irradiation in Y2Ti2O7 pyrochlore nanoparticles in EP450 ODS steel have been studied using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. It was found that diameters of amorphous latent tracks formed by Kr and Xe ions are in the range 3-7 nm when electronic stopping powers vary from 10 to 24 keV/nm. The threshold for track formation is estimated to be between 7.4 keV/nm and 9.7 keV/nm.