Microhardness of Hg1−xMnxTe

The microhardness of Hg1−xMnxTe has been investigated by means of Vickers measurements. First, the Hg0.93Mn0.07Te single crystal was measured at the applied load varying from 15 to 200 g. The results show that the microhardness decreases with the load increasing from 32.8 to 29.7 kgf mm−2. The Meyer's law, Hays–Kendall approach and proportional specimen resistance (PSR) model were used to analyze this phenomenon. However, the microhardness of Hg1−xMnxTe with variant x value from 0 to 0.26 was found to depend on the concentration strongly, which increases from 26 kgf mm−2 for x = 0–50 kgf mm−2 for x = 0.26. The results are explained using the elastic interaction of solid solution hardening theory.