The investigation of the mechanical properties of Mn doped BaSnO3 nanoparticles

This study investigates the effect of Mn substitution on the structural and mechanical properties of nano BaSnO3 using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Vickers microhardness. For this investigation, samples of type BaSn1-xMnxO3 with 0.04 <= x <= 0.4 were prepared by co-precipitation method. XRD patterns indicate the formation of single phase cubic structure BaSnO3 with space group (Pm(3)m) for 0 <= x <= 0.1. BaMnO2 hexagonal phase appears as impurity for x > 0.1. The crystallite size, increases as x increases. Vickers microhardness H-v was carried out at different applied loads varying between 0.98 N and 9.8 N at dwell time 40 seconds. The results show that H-v increases as the Mn-content increases, whereas it decreases as the applied load increase. The H-v results were analysed using Elastic Plastic Deformation and the Modified proportional specimen resistance models. The Vickers microhardness analysis indicates that Modified Proportional Specimen Resistance model is the most suitable one for describing the load independent microhardness region of the investigated samples.