TiC-MgO composite: an X-ray transparent and machinable heating element in a multi-anvil high pressure apparatus

ABSTRACT

TiC-MgO composite was developed as a heating element for X-ray study in the multi-anvil high pressure apparatus. We synthesized TiC-MgO blocks (50–70 wt.% of TiC) by compression in a cold isostatic press followed by baking in a gas flow furnace. Heaters of tubular shape were manufactured from the synthesized blocks either by lathe or numerically controlled milling machine. The so-produced heating elements have been proved to generate temperatures up to 2250 K at 10 GPa, condition where classical graphite heaters are not suitable anymore due to graphite-diamond transition. These new heaters have been successfully used for in situ X-ray radiography and diffraction measurements on liquid Fe alloys, exploiting excellent X-ray transparency.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-anvil
• heater
• TiC-MgO composite
• X-ray transparency
• high temperature

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank B. Baptiste for his help with XRD measurements. The synchrotron radiation experiments were performed under SOLEIL proposals 20170506, 20171307 and 20181797. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 724690).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID

Fang Xu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9537-662X

Additional information

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) [grant number 724690].