Synthesis and thermal expansion hysteresis of Ca1-xSrxZr4P6O24

The low thermal expansion ceramic system, Ca1-xSrxZr4P6O24, for the compositions with x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1 was synthesized by solid-state reaction. The sintering characteristics were ascertained by bulk density measurements. The fracture surface microstructure examined by scanning electron microscopy showed the average grain size of 2.47 mum for all the compositions. The thermal expansion data for these ceramic systems over the temperature range 25-800degreesC is reported. The sinterability of various solid solutions and the hysteresis in dilatometric behaviour are shown to be related to the crystallographic thermal expansion anisotropy. A steady increase in the amount of porosity and critical grain size with increase in x is suggested to explain the observed decrease in the hysteresis.

Crystal Structure, Thermal Expansion and ElectricaH Conductivity of Yo.sCao.2Fel-x Mnx03+o (0 < x < 1.0)

The crystal structure, thennal expansion and electrical conductivity of the solid solutions YOgCao.2Fel-x MnxOJ+c5 (0 ~ x ~ 1.0) were investigated. All compositions had the GdFeOrtype orthorhombic perovskite structure with trace amounts of a second phase present in case of x = 0.8 and 1.0. The lattice parameters were detennined at room tempe'rature by using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The pseudocubic lattice constant decreased with increasing x. The average I inear thermal expansion coefficient (anv) in the temperature range from 673 to 973 K showed negligible change with x up to x = 0.4. The thennal expansion curve for x = I had a slope approaching zero in the temperature range from 648 to 948 K. The calculated activation energy values for electrical conduction indicate that conduction occurs primarily by the small polaron hopping mechanism. The drastic drop in electrical conductivity for a small addition of Mn (0 ~ x ~ 0.2) is caused by the preferential fonnation of Mn4t ion~ (rather than Fe4 +) which act as carrier traps. This continues till the charge compensation for the divalent ions on the A-site is complete. The results indicate that with further increase in manganese content (beyond x =0.4) in the solid solutions, there is an increase in exc :::ss oxygen and consequently, a small increase in Mn'll il>I1~, which are charge compensated by the formation of cation vancancies.

Size- And Temperature-Dependent Thermal Expansion Coefficient Of A Nanofilm

The thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of an ideal crystal is derived by using a method of Boltzmann statistics. The Morse potential energy function is adopted to show the dependence of the TEC on the temperature. By taking the effects of the surface relaxation and the surface energy into consideration, the dimensionless TEC of a nanofilm is derived. It is shown that with decreasing thickness, the TEC can increase or decrease, depending on the surface relaxation of the nanofilm.

Influence of vapor transport equilibration on the crystal quality and thermal-expansion coefficients of gamma-LiAlO2

gamma-LiAlO2 (LAO) single crystal has been grown by the Czochralski method. However, its quality was deteriorated due to lithium volatilization during the crystal growth. The full width at half maximum value drops from 116.9 to 44.2 arc sec after the LAO slice was treated by vapor transport equilibration at 1000, 1100, and 1200 degrees C/48 h in sequence. The treated slice shows higher optical transmission than the as-grown one in the measured wavelength range of 190-1900 nm, meanwhile, its absorption edge exhibits a blueshift. According to Raman spectra, the treated slice has homogeneous quality at different depths from surface to 0.01 mm. The expansion coefficient of the treated slice for a axis drops from 17.2398x10(-6)/degrees C to 16.5240x10(-6)/degrees C, and that for c axis drops from 10.7664x10(-6)/degrees C to 10.0786x10(-6)/degrees C.

In situ synthesis of ZrO2/ZrW2O8 composites with near-zero thermal expansion

In this paper, ZrO2 and WO3 were used as the raw materials to prepare ZrO2/ZrW2O8 composites by in situ reaction method and the thermal expansion property of the composites was studied. This novel method included a heating step up to 1473 K for 24 h, which combines the synthesizing and sintering of ZrW2O8. The result indicates that ZrO2/ZrW2O8 composite shows near-zero thermal expansion when the weight ratio of ZrO2 and WO3 is 2.5:1. Compared with composites prepared previously by non-reactive sintering of ZrO2 and ZrW2O8, the composites show higher relative density and lower porosity.

Thermal and electric conductivity of near-zero thermal expansion ZrW 2O8//ZrO2 composites

In this work, the microstructure, thermal and electric conductivity properties of near-zero thermal expansion ZrW2O8/ZrO2 and Al2O3 added ZrW2O8/ZrO2 composites were studied. Both the two composites exhibit very low thermal conductivity and the thermal conductivity decreases slightly as the temperature increases. The electric conductivity of the two composites increases with the increasing of the measurement temperature. The Al2O3 added ZrW2O8/ZrO2 composite has higher thermal and electric conductivity than ZrW2O8/ZrO2 composite. The most important factor which causes the difference of the thermal and electric conductivity of the composites is the porosity. (C) 2008 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

Investigation of the Young's modulus and thermal expansion of amorphous titania-doped tantala films

The current generation of advanced gravitational wave detectors utilize titania-doped tantala/silica multilayer stacks for their mirror coatings. The properties of the low-refractive-index silica are well known; however, in the absence of detailed direct measurements, the material parameters of Young's modulus and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the high refractive index material, titania-doped tantala, have been assumed to be equal to values measured for pure tantala coatings. In order to ascertain the true values necessary for thermal noise calculations, we have undertaken measurements of Young's modulus and CTE through the use of nanoindentation and thermal-bending measurements. The measurements were designed to assess the effects of titania doping concentration and post-deposition heat-treatment on the measured values in order to evaluate the possibility of optimizing material parameters to further improve thermal noise in the detector. Young's modulus measurements on pure tantala and 25% and 55% titania-doped tantala show a wide range of values, from 132 to 177 GPa, dependent on both titania concentration and heat-treatment. Measurements of CTE give values of (3.9 +/- 0.1) x 10^-6 K^-1 and (4.9 +/- 0.3) x 10^-6 K^-1 for 25% and 55% titania-doped tantala, respectively, without dependence on post-deposition heat-treatment.

Investigation of thermal expansion and compressibility of rare-earth orthovanadates using a dielectric chemical bond method

The chemical bond properties, lattice energies, linear expansion coefficients, and mechanical properties of ReVO4 (Re = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Sc, Y) are investigated systematically by the dielectric chemical bond theory. The calculated results show that the covalencies of Re-O bonds are increasing slightly from La to Lu and that the covalencies of V-O bonds in crystals are decreasing slightly from La to Lu. The linear expansion coefficients decrease progressively from LaVO4 to LuVO4; on the contrary, the bulk moduli increase progressively. Our calculated results are in good agreement with some experimental values for linear expansion coefficients and bulk moduli.

Investigation of Chemical Bond Characteristics, Thermal Expansion Coefficients and Bulk Moduli of alpha-R2MoO6 and R2Mo2O7 (R = rare earths) by Using a Dielectric Chemical Bond Method

Theoretical researches are performed on the alpha-R2MoO6 (R = Y, Gd, Tb Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb) and pyrochlore-type R2Mo2O7 (R = Y, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb and Dy) rare earth molybdates by using chemical bond theory of dielectric description. The chemical bonding characteristics and their relationship with thermal expansion property and compressibility are explored. The calculated values of linear thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC) and bulk modulus agree well with the available experimental values. The calculations reveal that the LTECs and the bulk moduli do have linear relationship with the ionic radii of the lanthanides: the LTEC decreases from 6.80 to 6.62 10(-6)/K and the bulk modulus increases from 141 to 154 GPa when R goes in the order Gd, Tb Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb in the alpha-R2MoO6 series; while in the R2Mo2O7 series, the LTEC ranges from 6.80 to 6.61 10(-6)/K and the bulk modulus ranges from 147 to 163 GPa when R varies in the order Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb and Dy.

Chemical bond characteristics, thermal expansion property and compressibility of AR(2)O(4) (A = Ca, Sr, Ba; R = rare earths)

Theoretical researches were performed on the CaFe2O4-type binary rare earth oxides AR(2)O(4) (A = Ca, Sr, Ba; R = rare earths) by using chemical bond theory of dielectric description. The chemical bond properties of these crystals were explored, and then the thermal expansion property and compressibility were studied. The theoretical values of linear thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC) and bulk modulus were presented. The calculations revealed that the LTECs and the bulk moduli do have linear relationship with the ionic radii of the rare earths. In the cases of Sc and Y, both the LTEC and bulk modulus values are larger than the lanthanide series. We attribute this to the difference in the electronic configuration between Sc (Y) and lanthanide series. For SrY2O4 and BaY2O4 crystals, the theoretical values of LTEC and bulk modulus agree well with experimental ones.

On improving the phase stability and thermal expansion coefficients of lanthanum cerium oxide solid solutions

The phase stability of lanthanum cerium oxide (La2Ce2O7), which is stable up to 1400 degrees C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of La2Ce2O7 doped with Ta2O5 or WO3 were studied. The thermal expansion coefficient of La2Ce2O7 below 400 degrees C was increased by adding more CeO2 or doping with either Ta2O5 or WO3.

Estimation thermal expansion coefficient from lattice energy for inorganic crystals

By using the study of the lattice energy and the structural parameters of binary inorganic crystals, a new parameter reflecting the thermal expansion property has been found, the relation between the linear expansion coefficient and new parameter has been established. A semiempirical method for evaluation of linear expansion coefficient from the lattice energy is presented, and developed to the complex crystals. The estimated values of the linear expansion coefficients of both simple and complex crystals are in good agreement with the experimental values.