Room-temperature creep behavior and activation volume of dislocation nucleation in a LiTaO₃ single crystal by nanoindentation

The crystal orientation effect on mechanical heterogeneity of LiTaO₃ single crystals is well known, whilst the time-dependent plastic behavior, i.e., creep is still short of understanding. Relying on nanoindentation technology, we systematically studied room-temperature creep flows at various holding depths (100 nm to 1100 nm) in three typical orientations namely the X-112°, Y-36° and Y-42° planes. Creep resistance was much stronger in the X-112° plane than the others. In the meanwhile, creep features were similar in the Y-36° and Y-42° planes. The orientation effect on creep deformation was consistent with that on hardness. The nanoindentation length scale played an important role in creep deformation that creep strains were gradually decreased with the holding depth in all the planes. Based on strain rate sensitivity and yield stress, the activation volumes of dislocation nucleation were computed at various nanoindentation depths. The activation volumes ranged from 5 Å3 to 23 Å3 for the Y-36° and Y-42° planes, indicating that a point-like defect could be the source of plastic initiation. In the X-112° plane, the activation volume was between 6 Å3 and 83 Å3. Cooperative migration of several atoms could also be the mechanism of dislocation activation at deep nanoindentation.