Relaxação estrutural da fase amorfa do tungstato de zircônio

Abstract

Zirconium tungstate (ZrW2O8) is a ceramic material which exhibits several unusual properties such as negative thermal expansion, amorphization induced by high pressures ( 1.5 GPa and 2.0 GPa) and endothermic recrystallization when heated to temperatures above 600 C. The irreversible exothermic structural relaxation is the phenomenon that precedes the recrystallization of the amorphous phase and is characterized by a continuous activation energy spectrum. This work aims to explore the structural relaxation mechanism of the amorphous phase of zirconium tungstate, in particular, determine whether this phenomenon involves the breakdown of W-O bonds formed during amorphization. To this end, the techniques of 17O solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Raman spectroscopy and far infrared spectrocopy (FT-FAR-IR) were used. As secondary objective, the activation energy spectrum of this process is calculated using modulated di˙erential scanning calorimetry measurements (MDSC). This calculation involved the resolution of the inverse problem originated from the kinetic model used, which results in a Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. The spectrum obtained shows an asymmetric distribution of probability that kinetic processes occur as a function of energy with two maxima at about 1.4 eV and 2.7 eV, evidence that two processes with distinct mechanisms occur during relaxation. The evolution of the amorphous structure during relaxation was monitored by 17O solid-state NMR and vibrational spectroscopy. The results indicate that during structural relaxation of the amorphous phase of ZrW2O8 ther is not breaking of bonds but only a re-arrangement of oxygen atoms. Only at recrystallization temperature enough energy is available to promote the breaking of the W-O bonds formed during amorphization.