Performance of ceramic anvils for high pressure neutron scattering
Résumé
Three kinds of ceramics, zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA), alumina-toughened zirconia (ATZ) and
yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), were tested as anvil materials, mainly for the purpose of neutron scattering
study under high pressure. ZTA with non-toroidal anvil profile, having the same sample volume
as conventionally used double toroidal anvils, sustained pressures up to 11.9 GPa. This is comparable to
anvils made of tungsten carbide (TC) with Ni binder with the same dimensions. ATZ would also be an
alternative material to TC with pressure performance comparable to ZTA, whereas YSZ is much weaker
than the other two ceramics. The attenuation coefficient for YSZ is significantly smaller than that of TC
and similar to ZTA and ATZ, the latter being estimated by attenuation calculations. Neutron diffraction
on a sample of lead in YSZ anvils as well as quasi-elastic neutron scattering on liquid water in ZTA also
demonstrate the outstanding neutron transparency of these ceramics. The gain factor in count rate is up to
one order of magnitude.