Strength and equation of state of fluorite phase CeO2 under high pressure.

Fluorite phase CeO2 is compressed non-hydrostatically up to 27 GPa using a diamond anvil cell until the transition to α-PbCl2 phase occurred. The compressive strength (t) of CeO2 as a function of pressure is determined by the line width analysis of the high pressure angle dispersive x-ray diffraction patterns. The strength of CeO2 increases quickly below 3.30 GPa and reaches a plateau region at high pressures. A procedure combined the line width analysis and the line shift analysis together, based on the non-hydrostatic data to obtain the corresponding lattice parameter under hydrostatic pressures, is proposed and applied to the case of CeO2 sample. The bulk modulus and its pressure derivative of fluorite phase CeO2 (K0 = 235 (18) GPa, K0′ = 3.67) are obtained by fitting the P-V results into Vinet equation of state. A discussion of the pressure dependence of α, which determines the relative weights of the isostress and isostrain conditions across the grain boundary in an actual case, is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]