Phase transition and near-zero thermal expansion of Zr_(0.5)Hf_(0.5)VPO_7

The Zr_(0.5)Hf_(0.5)VPO_7 is successfully synthesized by the solid-state method with near-zero thermal expansion. Powder x-ray diffraction(XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermal dilatometry, and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) are used to investigate the structure, the phase transition, and the coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) of Zr_(0.5)Hf_(0.5)VPO_7. The investigation results show that the samples are of the single cubic type with a space group of Pa3ˉ at room temperature(RT).It can be inferred that the superstructure is transformed from the 3 × 3 × 3 superstructure to the 1 × 1 × 1 ideal crystal in a temperature range between 310 K and 323 K. The CTE is measured by a dilatometer to be 0.59 × 10~(-6) K~(-1)(310 K–673 K). The values of intrinsic(XRD) and extrinsic(dilatometric) thermal expansion are both near zero. The results show that Zr_(0.5)Hf_(0.5)VPO_7 has near-zero thermal expansion behavior over a wide temperature range.