https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2003-00281-5
The high-pressure phase sequence in nanocrystalline zirconia
Laboratoire d'Électrochimie et de Physico-Chimie des Matériaux et des
Interfaces, INPG-CNRS, 1130 rue de la Piscine, BP 75, 38402 St.
Martin d'Hères Cedex, France
Corresponding author: a Pierre.Bouvier@lepmi.inpg.fr
Received:
31
January
2003
Revised:
29
July
2003
Published online:
15
October
2003
X-ray diffraction and Raman data on the pressure induced phase
transitions of a nanometric zirconia, ZrO2, are analyzed via
a classical phenomenological Landau approach of the bulk. It is
concluded that the initial tetragonal structure (
),
which is a metastable bulk state of zirconia at ambient
conditions, evolves continuously towards the ideal cubic fluorite
structure (
) via an intermediate tetragonal form
(
). The proposed phenomenological model describes
consistently all experimental peculiarities, including the
hybridization and softening of the low-frequency Raman active
modes along with lattice-parameter anomalies.
PACS: 64.70.Nd – Structural transitions in nanoscale materials / 61.50.Ks – Crystallographic aspects of phase transformations; pressure effects / 61.10.Nz – X-ray diffraction
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2003
