Thermal Properties of Porous Mullite Ceramics Modified with Microsized ZrO2 and WO3

Mullite ceramics are well known as materials with a high temperature stability, strength and creep resistance. In this research, the effect of a modification with magnesia-stabilized zirconia and yttria-stabilized zirconia, separately, as well as in a mixture with WO₃, in 1:1 and 1:2 ratios on the thermal properties of porous mullite ceramics was investigated. The porous mullite-containing ceramics were prepared by a slip casting of the concentrated slurry of raw materials with the addition of a suspension of Al paste for the pore formation due to the H₂ evolution as a result of the reaction of Al with water. The formed samples were sintered at 1600 °C and the holding time was 1 h. The materials were characterized using X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, mercury porosimetry, the laser flash contactless method, thermal shock resistance testing and the non-destructive impulse excitation method for determining the elasticity modulus. The modification of the porous mullite ceramic with a mixture of ZrO₂ and WO₃ oxides had a positive effect by decreasing the thermal conductivity, due to the increased porosity, in comparison to the undoped samples and samples with only ZrO₂. The doubling of the WO₃ amount in the modifying oxide mixtures improved the ceramic thermal shock resistance. The porous mullite ceramics which were modified with magnesia-stabilized zirconia (2.8 mol% MgO) and WO₃ had a lower thermal conductivity and improved thermal shock resistance than the samples with yttria-stabilized zirconia (8 mol% Y₂O₃) and WO₃.

Pressure-driven thermoelectric properties of defect chalcopyrite structured ZnGa2Te4: ab initio study

The pressure induced structural, electronic, transport, and lattice dynamical properties of ZnGa2Te4 were investigated with the combination of density functional theory, Boltzmann transport theory and a modified Debye-Callaway model. The structural transition from I4̄ to I4̄2m occurs at 12.09 GPa. From the basic observations, ZnGa2Te4 is found to be mechanically as well as thermodynamically stable and ductile up to 12 GPa. The direct band gap of 1.01 eV is inferred from the electronic band structure. The quantitative analysis of electron transport properties shows that ZnGa2Te4 has moderate Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity under high pressure, which resulted in a large power factor of 0.63 mW m-1 K-2 (750 K). The ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (∼1 W m-1 K-1 at 12 GPa) is attributed to the overlapping of acoustic and optical phonon branches. As a result, the optimal figure of merit of 0.77 (750 K) is achieved by applying a pressure of 12 GPa. These findings support that ZnGa2Te4 can be a potential p-type thermoelectric material under high pressure and thus open the door for its experimental exploration.

Effect of mass disorder on the lattice thermal conductivity of MgO periclase under pressure

Thermal conductivity of mantle materials controlling the heat balance and thermal evolution of the Earth remains poorly constrained as the available experimental and theoretical techniques are limited in probing minerals under the relevant conditions. We report measurements of thermal conductivity of MgO at high pressure up to 60 GPa and 300 K via diamond anvil cells using the time-domain thermoreflectance technique. These measurements are complemented by model calculations which take into account the effect of temperature and mass disorder of materials within the Earth. Our model calculations agree with the experimental pressure dependencies at 300 and 2000 K for MgO. Furthermore, they predict substantially smaller pressure dependence for mass disordered materials as the mechanism of scattering changes. The calculated thermal conductivity at the core-mantle boundary is smaller than the majority of previous predictions resulting in an estimated total heat flux of 10.4 TW, which is consistent with modern geomodeling estimates.

Lattice thermal conductivity of lower mantle minerals and heat flux from Earth's core

The amount of heat flowing from Earth's core critically determines the thermo-chemical evolution of both the core and the lower mantle. Consisting primarily of a polycrystalline aggregate of silicate perovskite and ferropericlase, the thermal boundary layer at the very base of Earth's lower mantle regulates the heat flow from the core, so that the thermal conductivity (k) of these mineral phases controls the amount of heat entering the lowermost mantle. Here we report measurements of the lattice thermal conductivity of pure, Al-, and Fe-bearing MgSiO(3) perovskite at 26 GPa up to 1,073 K, and of ferropericlase containing 0, 5, and 20% Fe, at 8 and 14 GPa up to 1,273 K. We find the incorporation of these elements in silicate perovskite and ferropericlase to result in a ∼50% decrease of lattice thermal conductivity relative to the end member compositions. A model of thermal conductivity constrained from our results indicates that a peridotitic mantle would have k = 9.1 ± 1.2 W/m K at the top of the thermal boundary layer and k = 8.4 ± 1.2 W/m K at its base. These values translate into a heat flux of 11.0 ± 1.4 terawatts (TW) from Earth's core, a range of values consistent with a variety of geophysical estimates.

Thermal conductivity of periclase (MgO) from first principles

We combine first-principles calculations of forces with the direct nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method to determine the lattice thermal conductivity k of periclase (MgO) up to conditions representative of the Earth's core-mantle boundary (136 GPa, 4100 K). We predict the logarithmic density derivative a=(∂ln k/∂ln ρ)(T)=4.6±1.2 and that k=20±5  Wm(-1) K(-1) at the core-mantle boundary, while also finding good agreement with extant experimental data at much lower pressures.

Lattice thermal conductivity of MgO at conditions of Earth's interior

Thermal conductivity of the Earth's lower mantle greatly impacts the mantle convection style and affects the heat conduction from the core to the mantle. Direct laboratory measurement of thermal conductivity of mantle minerals remains a technical challenge at the pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions relevant to the lower mantle, and previously estimated values are extrapolated from low P-T data based on simple empirical thermal transport models. By using a numerical technique that combines first-principles electronic structure theory and Peierls-Boltzmann transport theory, we predict the lattice thermal conductivity of MgO, previously used to estimate the thermal conductivity in the Earth, at conditions from ambient to the core-mantle boundary (CMB). We show that our first-principles technique provides a realistic model for the P-T dependence of lattice thermal conductivity of MgO at conditions from ambient to the CMB, and we propose thermal conductivity profiles of MgO in the lower mantle based on geotherm models. The calculated conductivity increases from 15 -20 W/K-m at the 670 km seismic discontinuity to 40 -50 W/K-m at the CMB. This large depth variation in calculated thermal conductivity should be included in models of mantle convection, which has been traditionally studied based on the assumption of constant conductivity.

Thermal conductivity of MgO periclase from equilibrium first principles molecular dynamics

A method is presented by which the lattice thermal conductivity can be computed from first principles using relatively small system sizes and simulation times. The method uses the relation for thermal conductivity of a kinetic gas, with phonon lifetimes and frequencies determined by combining equilibrium first principles molecular dynamics and first principles lattice dynamics. To illustrate the method, the lattice conductivity is computed for MgO periclase. For individual wave vectors and vibrational modes, phonon lifetimes in periclase are found to be inversely proportional to temperature, with optic modes shorter lived than acoustic modes, contributing only approximately 5% to the lattice conductivity. Computed thermal conductivity values show excellent agreement with experimental measurements, and suggest that the radiative contribution to thermal transport in periclase starts playing a role above approximately 1500 K.

Precise measurements of radial temperature gradients in the laser-heated diamond anvil cell

A new spectroradiometry system specialized for measuring two-dimensional temperature gradients for samples at high pressure in the laser heated diamond anvil cell has been designed and constructed at UCLA. Emitted light intensity from sample hotspots is imaged by a videocamera for real time monitoring, an imaging spectroradiometer for temperature measurement, and a high-dynamic-range camera that examines a magnified image of the two-dimensional intensity distribution of the heated spot, yielding precise measurements of temperature gradients. With this new system, most systematic errors in temperature measurement due to chromatic aberration are bypassed. We use this system to compare several different geometries of temperature measurement found in the literature, including scanning a pinhole aperture, and narrow-slit and wide-slit entrance apertures placed before the imaging spectrometer. We find that the most accurate way of measuring a temperature is to use the spectrometer to measure an average hotspot temperature and to use information from the imaging charge coupled device to calculate the temperature distribution to the hotspot. We investigate the effects of possible wavelength- and temperature-dependent emissivity, and evaluate their errors. We apply this technique to measure the anisotropy in temperature distribution of highly oriented graphite at room temperature and also at high pressures. A comparison between model and experiment demonstrates that this system is capable of measuring thermal diffusivity in anisotropic single crystals and is also capable of measuring relative thermal diffusivity at high pressures and temperatures among different materials. This shows the possibility of using this system to provide information about thermal diffusivity of materials at high pressure and temperature.

Thermal conductivity of solid argon at high pressure and high temperature: A molecular dynamics study

The thermal conductivity of solid argon at high-pressure (up to 50 GPa) and high-temperature (up to 2000 K) has been calculated by equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations using the Green-Kubo formalism and an exponential-6 interatomic potential. A simple empirical expression is given for its pressure and temperature dependence. The results are compared with predictions based on kinetic theory. The relative change of the thermal conductivity lambda with density rho is found to be consistent with a partial differential ln lambda/ partial differential ln rho slope of approximately 6 in a wide range of pressures and temperatures, in good agreement with predictions based on kinetic theory.