Vickers microhardness studies on solution-grown single crystals of potassium boro-succinate

Abstract

The semiorganic crystals of potassium boro-succinate (KBS) were grown by slow evaporation method. KBS crystallizes in monoclinic system which was confirmed by powder XRD analysis. Vickers microhardness study has been carried out over a load range of 25-100 g. The Vickers hardness numbers (Hv) of the material increases as the load increases so the material is suitable for device fabrication. The Meyer index 'n' is estimated to be greater than 1.6, the crystal system belongs to the soft material category. The elastic stiffness coefficient, c11, has also been calculated using Wooster's empirical relation from the hardness data. The fracture toughness values 'Kc', determined from measurements of crack lengths, were estimated to be 0.15166 MN/m3/2. The brittleness indices 'Bi' were estimated as 276 m-1/2.