This report was done under the guidance of Yusuke Matsuda, PhD at Stanford University.
Two samples of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) were subjected to micro-tensile testing in the di-cantilever beam configuration to investigate their fracture behavior. One sample was found to have a strain energy release rate 𝐺_c almost eight times larger than the other. The difference was suspected to be a result of energy absorption by plastic absorption. Material plasticity was found to be higher in the sample that yielded a higher 𝐺_c. Results here combined with characterization data from previous work showed that this phenomenon is most probably due to the presence of polymeric regions in the a-SiC:H structure. The improvement in fracture resistance due to this phenomenon may improve the success of a-SiC:H as an engineering material.
Enzo Borja Mangubat 