Elastic relaxations associated with the Pm3m-R3c transition in LaA103 III: superattenuation of acoustic resonances
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy has been used to characterize elastic softening and a variety of new acoustic dissipation processes associated with the Pm{bar 3}m {leftrightarrow} R{bar 3}c transition in single crystal and ceramic samples of LaAlO{sub 3}. Softening of the cubic structure ahead of the transition point is not accompanied by an increase in dissipation but follows different temperature dependences for the bulk modulus, 1/3(C{sub 11} + 2C{sub 12}), and the shear components 1/2(C{sub 11}-C{sub 12}) and C{sub 44} as if the tilting instability contains two slightly different critical temperatures. The transition itself is marked by the complete disappearance of resonance peaks (superattenuation), which then reappear below {approx}700 K in spectra from single crystals. Comparison with low frequency, high stress data from the literature indicate that the dissipation is not due to macroscopic displacement of needle twins. An alternative mechanism, local bowing of twin walls under low dynamic stress, is proposed. Pinning of the walls with respect to this displacement process occurs below {approx}350 K. Anelasticity maps, analogous to plastic deformation mechanism maps, are proposed to display dispersion relations and temperature/frequency/stress fields for different twin wall related dissipation mechanisms. An additional dissipation process, with an activation energy of 43 {+-} 6 kJ.mole{sup -1}, occurs in the vicinity of 250 K. The mechanism for this is not known, but it is associated with C{sub 44} and therefore appears to be related in some way to the cubic {leftrightarrow} rhombohedral transition at {approx}817 K. Slight softening in the temperature interval {approx}220 {yields} 70 K of resonance peaks determined by shear elastic constants hints at an incipient E{sub g} ferroelastic instability in LaAlO{sub 3}. The softening interval ends with a further dissipation peak at {approx} 60 K, the origin of which is discussed in terms of freezing of atomic motions of La and/or Al away from their high symmetry positions in the R{bar 3}c structure. LaAlO{sub 3} thus shows evidence of incipient instabilities at low temperatures which is potentially analogous with the phenomenologically rich behavior of SrTiO{sub 3}.
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W298562949