Mechanical properties and dislocation character of YB4 and YB6

YB4/YB6 two-phase alloys were prepared by arc-melting of high purity elemental materials. The Young's moduli of YB4 and YB6 were evaluated by nanoindentation technique. During loading of nanoindentation, pop-in events were clearly observed for YB4 and YB6, suggesting that both have some capability of dislocation emission at room temperature. TEM observation depicts that dislocations have formed in YB4 and YB6 due to the thermal stress that developed during cooling following arc-melting. The Burgers vectors of these dislocations were identified to be [001] for YB4, and 〈100〉 for YB6. Potential slip systems that are indicated to operate were (100)[001] for YB4 and {100}〈001〉 for YB6.