Abstract
As a superhard material with properties similar to diamond including chemical inertness, cubic boron nitride (cBN) is an excellent candidate as a pressure calibration standard for high-temperature high-pressure research using its pressure-volume-temperature (P-V-T) equation of state. However, the elastic properties of cBN at ambient conditions reported in the literature vary by up to 8, which can likely be attributed in part to variability in the cBN composition and defect structure and measurement uncertainties. We have measured the single-crystal elastic moduli of high-purity cBN with high precision by Brillouin scattering measurements, making an effort to minimize experimental uncertainties. We obtain values of C11 798.4 1.7 GPa, C44 469.0 1.0 GPa, and C12 172.4 1.1 GPa, from which the isotropic aggregate bulk modulus Ks 381.1 1.3 GPa and shear modulus G 398.8 1.2 GPa (the Hill average) were calculated. Our results improve the precision and reduce the uncertainties in the elastic moduli of high-purity cBN as a reference for future high P-T pressure scales.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 063521 |
| Journal | Journal of Applied Physics |
| Volume | 109 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 15 2011 |
Funding
We thank an anonymous reviewer for comments. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. EAR08-42345 and EAR07-38871. This research was also partially supported by COMPRES, the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences under NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR 10-43050. Y.Y.C. is supported by the Carnegie/DOE Alliance Center (CDAC) and S.D.J. acknowledges support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge Stephan L. Logunov and Corning Inc. for providing the silica glass 7980 used in our research.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy