Estimation of yttrium oxide microstructural parameters using the Williamson-Hall analysis

Abstract

Yttrium oxide (Y2O3) particles were synthesised from a yttrium nitrate solution via ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) method. The effects of temperature and precursor concentration on morphology and microstructural parameters were investigated. Y2O3 particles were characterised by scanning-electron-microscope energy-dispersive spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Based on X-ray peak broadening, the crystallite size was calculated using the modified Debye-Scherrer (MDS) method. Furthermore, the crystallite size, crystal strain and the energy density of the crystal were evaluated using the Williamson-Hall (W-H) analysis integrated with the uniform deformation model, the uniform stress deformation model and the uniform deformation energy density model. A comparative evaluation of Y2O3 crystallite size using the MDS and W-H methods was carried out.