Damage tolerance of Ti3SiC2 to high energy iodine irradiation

The microstructure of high fluence 2 MeV I2+ irradiated Ti3SiC2 has been studied by grazing incident X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) using synchrotron radiation. The shift and broadening of the observed diffraction peaks are due to a variety of defects ranging from atomic to micron scale in size. The observation of the surface micrograph reveals the microcrack formation at grain boundaries due to high irradiation damage. The Raman spectrum of Ti3SiC2 was measured and compared with that of TiC0.67. It was found that a TiC nanocrystalline phase was formed under the high dose irradiation. However, a complete decomposition by irradiation did not take place even at 10.3 dpa. Post irradiation annealing to temperatures of 500–800 °C results in crystal regrowth of Ti3SiC2 and TiC phases.