Growth of ZnTe crystal via directional solidification method and study of its mechanical properties

In this work, several ZnTe single crystals were successfully prepared from the mole ratio of Zn/Te = 2:8, through a directional solidification method. It is found the as-grown ZnTe single crystal has standard F43m cubic structure and excellent composition homogeneity. The infrared transmittance is tested about 50% in range of 500–4000 cm−1 wavenumber. The microhardness Hv on (110) plane is analyzed unfixed, which changes from 79.71 to 48.41 MPa under a load P of 0.01–1.0 kg. The Hv-P dependence could be theoretically explained based on Kick’s law and the Meyer index n is calculated to be 1.76. Besides, ZnTe single crystal demonstrates an outstanding fracture toughness as none crack is discovered on the crystal surface even under the maximum 1.0 kg applied load. The above results indicate ZnTe single crystal is quite a type of soft but ductile material, which might give valuable reference for crystal processing or application in the future.