Avalanches during recrystallization in radiation-damaged pyrochlore and allanite: Statistical similarity to phase transitions in functional materials

Differential scanning calorimetry has been employed to analyze the jerky behavior of exothermic, structural reorganization processes of the highly disordered radiation-damaged uranium or thorium containing minerals pyrochlore and allanite. The thermal signals occur as thermal spikes forming cracklin...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2019-12, Vol.115 (23)
Main Authors: Beirau, Tobias, Shelyug, Anna, Navrotsky, Alexandra, Pöllmann, Herbert, Salje, Ekhard K. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied physics
Avalanches
Collapse
External pressure
Ferroelectric materials
Ferroelectricity
Functional materials
Mean field theory
Noise spectra
Phase transitions
Radiation damage
Recrystallization
Spikes (lattice defects)
Thorium
Uranium
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Differential scanning calorimetry has been employed to analyze the jerky behavior of exothermic, structural reorganization processes of the highly disordered radiation-damaged uranium or thorium containing minerals pyrochlore and allanite. The thermal signals occur as thermal spikes forming crackling noise spectra. The energy of the thermal spikes follows power-law behavior with an exponent ε ∼ 1.61–1.65, which is in good agreement with force integrated energy distributions predicted by mean field theory. The recrystallization is hence statistically identical to the collapse of martensites under external pressure and the switching of ferroelectric materials.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.5133439