Compressive properties of chemical vapor deposited zinc sulfide at high temperatures

The compressive properties of chemical vapor deposited zinc sulfide are studied up to 1050°C for the first time. The specimen with columns parallel to the compression direction fails by shear firstly and then the part below the slip plane is split. The fracture mode changes from intergranular to transgranular as temperature increases. During compression, the load firstly increases rapidly, then decreases gradually, and lastly drops sharply as displacement increases. The compressive strength decreases as temperature increases. Above 800°C, recrystallization is driven by diffusional processes, which leads to the reduction in compressive strength because of the grown grains and the increase in strain softening as holding time increases. At higher temperatures, diffusional processes are joined by plastic deformation which leads to strain hardening and results in the increase in compressive strength with holding time. This plastic deformation mechanism during recrystallization is observed directly from the load-displacement curve by the high-temperature in-situ compression test for the first time.