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Abstract
The effect of neutron irradiation on microhardness, fracture character and phase composition of superconductive ceramics GdBa2Cu3O7-x have been studied. The microhardness has been found to grow from 2 to 5 GPa under thermal neutron impact while the fast neutron irradiation caused negligible changes of microhardness. Both the microhardness increase and the change of fracture type observed are connected with strong lattice distortion due to displacement of Gd atoms under thermal neutron irradiation.
The growth of new phases at grain surfaces of irradiated sample has been found. It is supposed to be due to radiation-enhanced reaction between the material and ambient atmosphere.