Micro-indentation tests performed from room temperature to 700C on LaAlO3 single crystals show a plastic anisotropy in the rhombohedral phase, depending on the orientation of the Vickers indenter. The indentation-induced twins were investigated by atomic force microscopy. Their geometry appears to be different from those resulting usually from the cubic to rhombohedral phase transition.

Indentation-Induced Twinning in LaAlO3 Single Crystals - an Atomic Force Microscopy Study. P.D.Tall, C.Coupeau, J.Rabier: Scripta Materialia, 2003, 49[9], 903-8