Growth of Na2EuCl4 particles studied by means of their effect upon the yield strength of NaCl:Eu2+ crystals

The hardening of NaCl crystals induced by the presence of europium ions has been systematically investigated in two regions of temperatures (below 343 K and above 473 K) as function of the aggregation and/or precipitation stage of the dopant. The kinetics of Eu²⁺ — clustering was followed by taking the δσ₀(t_an) — data at various annealing temperatures T_an. The results have been discussed in frames of the available theoretical models and compared with those obtained previously from OA- and ITC-data.