Engineering dislocation‐rich plastic zones in ceramics via room‐temperature scratching

In this communication, we demonstrate a simple but powerful method to engineer dislocations into large plastic zones in various single-crystal ceramic materials via room-temperature scratching. By using Brinell indenter with diameter of 2.5 mm, successfully produced width and depth ∼150 µm single scratch track, while the length track can be arbitrarily long depending on sample size. Increasing number repetitive scratching cycles increases dislocation density up ∼1013 m−2 without visible crack formation. The outlined experimental procedure is showcased SrTiO3, MgO, ZnS, CaF2 general applicability technique. light increasing research interest dislocation-tuned functional mechanical properties ceramics, our will serve as simple, fast, robust technique pave road for scaling required engineering ceramics.