Materials in Extreme Conditions

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

The main aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge on conducting experiments at conditions different from ambient i.e. high pressure and high/low temperature. Students will learn:
• why thermodynamic conditions cannot be ignored;
• how the temperature and pressure affect everything;
• preference and phase diagrams versus pressure, temperature, composition, etc.
• temperature/stress - strain relation;
• how to use a diamond-anvil cell;
• experimental set-ups for varied-temperature and -pressure in x-ray diffraction;
• how to process experimental data

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Knowledge equivalent to that introduced in courses: Crystallography I - Elements; and Crystallography II-Diffraction Methods.

Syllabus

Lecture: 15h; Tutorial: 30h Titles of laboratory classes:
Week 1: drawing phase and preference diagrams of selected compounds, for example H2O, Au:Cu alloys;
Week 2: power of compression: pressure effects on different materials, food sterilization;
Week 3: diamond-anvil cell (DAC) operation: loading samples and increasing pressure;
Week 4: optical microscopy with a DAC: high-pressure freezing and re-crystallization;
Week 5: high-pressure calibration and spectroscopy;
Week 6: high-pressure x-ray diffraction – powder and single crystal experiments;
Week 7: Extreme-conditions data analysis;
Week 8: Strain tensor and the final exam

The course can be performed in the block system: 3 weeks of introductory lectures (2 h per week) and then students will participate in an international Workshop on High Pressure, organised by Department of Materials Chemistry (usually at the end of April), including one-day of lectures on high-pressure techniques, followed by 2 days of practical laboratory classes. This will be also a forum for presents students’ own research, meeting specialists in this field and discussing interesting topics.

Reading list

1. High-Pressure Crystallography, A. Katrusiak, P. F. McMillan, 2004, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
2. A. Katrusiak, Acta Cryst. A, 2008, 64, 135-148.