Output details
13 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials
University of Sheffield : B - Materials Science and Engineering
Structural Transformations and Disordering in Zirconolite (CaZrTi2O7) at High Pressure
Combined high-pressure Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction study of CaZrTi2O7 showed that this material, unique among pyrochlore-related titanates, does not undergo pressure-induced amorphisation at extreme pressure (to 80 GPa). Crucially, this combination of techniques demonstrated the reported loss of Raman modes in such materials at high pressure to be related to a cation disorder mechanism, not amorphisation. Our work shows that current understanding of amorphisation mechanisms in this class of compounds, important to application as actinide containment materials, must be re-examined. This research led to an iCASE award from Sellafield Ltd and EPSRC project (EP/L014041/1, £518k) for further investigation.