Published July 5, 2021 | Version v1
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Exploding and weeping ceramics

  • 1. Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota
  • 2. Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
  • 3. Leibnitz Institute for Surface Engineering (IOM), Leipzig, Germany
  • 4. Laboratory of Infrared Materials and Devices, The Research Institute of Advanced Technologies, Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, China

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Description

The systematic tuning of the lattice parameters to achieve improved kinematic compatibility between phases is a broadly effective strategy for improving the reversibility, and lowering the hysteresis, of solid-solid phase transformations. Here, "kinematic compatibility" refers to the fitting together of the phases. We present an apparently paradoxical example in which tuning to near perfect compatibility in (Zr/Hf)O2-(YNb)O4 results in a high degree of irreversibility, as manifested in explosive or "weeping" behavior on cooling through the tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation. In the case of weeping the polycrystal slowly and steadily falls apart at the grain boundaries. These effects occur without chemical change. Finally, tuning to satisfy a condition we term the equidistance condition results in reversible behavior with the lowest hysteresis in this system. We give evidence that all these observations are explained by a more careful analysis of compatibility of the polycrystal, accounting for sample shape. These results show that an extreme diversity of behaviors, from reversible to explosive, is possible in a chemically homogeneous system by manipulating conditions of compatibility in unexpected ways. They provide critical concepts underlying the current search for a shape memory oxide ceramic.

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References

Journal reference (Manuscript where the data is discussed)
H. Gu, J. Rohmer, J. Jetter, A. Lotnyk, L. Kienle, E. Quandt, R. D. James, Nature 599, 416–420 (2021), doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03975-5