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.     

Near-zero thermal expansion in β-CuZnV2O7 in a large temperature range

We report a new type of near-zero thermal expansion material β-CuZnV₂O₇ in a large temperature range from 173 K to 673 K. It belongs to a monoclinic structure (C2/c space group) in the whole temperature range. No structural phase transition is observed at atmospheric pressure based on the x-ray diffraction and Raman experiment. The high-pressure Raman experiment demonstrates that two structural phase transitions exist at 0.94 GPa and 6.53 GPa, respectively. The mechanism of negative thermal expansion in β-CuZnV₂O₇ is interpreted by the variations of the angles between atoms intuitively and the phonon anharmonicity intrinsically resorting to the negative Grüneisen parameter.