XRD contribution to the study of Cs-implanted cubic zirconia

The radiation-induced damage in Cs-implanted cubic zirconia at room temperature has been investigated as a function of the fluence (from a few 1013 to a few 1016 cm−2) by means of XRD measurements. These experiments allowed determining the maximum strain and stress experienced by the damaged layers as well as the strain depth profiles. The radiation-induced elastic strain, localized along the direction normal to the implanted sample surface, is positive. It induces an in-plane compressive stress which reaches −1.6 GPa before relaxation. This strain essentially comes from ballistic collisions generating interstitial-type defects, but a contribution due to Cs incorporation into the matrix should also be taken into account. XRD data have been confronted to results previously obtained by RBS/C and TEM experiments. A strong correlation between the evolution of the normal strain and of the disorder level measured by RBS/C is clearly established. In particular, the relaxation of the stored elastic strain takes place concomitantly with the microstructural evolution evidenced by the RBS/C damage build-up and imaged by TEM. Besides, the width of the strain depth profiles indicates that the strained layer is broader than the damaged thickness revealed by RBS/C and TEM analyses.