Plasticity of indium antimonide between −176 and 400 °C under hydrostatic pressure. Part I: Macroscopic aspects of the deformation

Indium antimonide (InSb) single crystals have been plastically deformed between −176 and 400 °C, i.e. below and above the brittle-to-ductile transition temperature situated around 150–160 °C, via the use of microindentation below room temperature (RT) and the Paterson press (compression under gaseous pressure) above RT. The evolution of the macroscopic mechanical data (hardness and critical resolved shear stress) with temperature suggests the existence of three deformation regimes with transitions at Ttr1 = 150 °C and Ttr2 = 20 °C. Ttr1 coincides with the brittle-to-ductile temperature, while Ttr2 may coincide with a transition in the nature of dislocations with dislocations propagating in the glide set above Ttr2 while moving in the shuffle set below Ttr2.