Phase transformations in thermally cycled Cu/ZrW2O8composites investigated by synchrotron x-ray diffraction

Abstract

A Cu/ZrW2O8 metal matrix composite was thermally cycled between 298 and 591?K while being subjected to x-ray diffraction in transmission using high-intensity synchrotron radiation. The reversible allotropic phase transformations of ZrW2O8 between its two low-pressure phases and its high-pressure phase were observed within the composite bulk as a function of temperature. This observation gives experimental proof of the existence of the reversible pressure-induced phase transformation, which had been inferred indirectly from dilatometry in a previous investigation and assigned to the large thermal mismatch stresses in the composite. The volume fraction of each ZrW2O8 compound was determined from the measured diffracted intensity, and the thermal expansion behaviour of the composite was then calculated. Good agreement was found with the experimental dilatometric curve reported in a recent investigation.