The use of MgO–ZnO ceramics to record pressure and temperature conditions in the piston–cylinder apparatus

Abstract

The factors affecting the calibration of pressure in the piston–cylinder and other solid-media apparatus are so multifaceted and complex as to challenge existing approaches. Here we demonstrate how MgO–ZnO ceramics may be used in piston–cylinder assemblies to routinely record the pressure–temperature conditions experienced by samples in each run. The miscibility gap between rock-salt- and wurtzite-structured phases in the binary system MgO–ZnO is well suited for this purpose as it is capable of recording pressure and/or temperature in situ with a typical sensitivity to pressure of ± 0.02 GPa (1 standard deviation) if temperature is known, or variations in temperature around a sample of ∼ 10 °C assuming pressure is constant. MgO–ZnO ceramics can simply replace the widely used MgO surrounding samples under most conditions, since they are almost as inert chemically as MgO and have similar mechanical properties. As a demonstration, we apply the method to a redetermination of the quartz–coesite univariant phase transition in the piston–cylinder, using different assembly materials, sizes, and pressure–temperature path protocols. Continuous monitoring of piston travel during the entirety of each run helps reveal the differences in behaviour of the apparatus under these variables. We show that several assumptions about the behaviour of the piston–cylinder apparatus are ill-founded, that there may be a discrepancy of ∼ 10 % in pressure between otherwise identical experiments conducted using slightly different experimental protocols, and that the effects of the various options for assembly materials are complex, depending on the pressure–temperature path of the experiment throughout its duration. We have also used the sensitivity of the miscibility gap to temperature to map the temperature distribution in two dimensions surrounding a platinum capsule in a piston–cylinder experiment. The routine inclusion of the ceramic in piston–cylinder assemblies would provide an archive of actual experimental P–T conditions experienced by samples.