Accurate in situ measurement of thermal expansion of pure zirconia and alumium titanate

The level of the local strains due to thermal loading in pure zirconia or aluminum titanate bulk materials is of few percent. Such very high values of elastic strains are due to phase transitions or anisotropy of the thermal expansion and they have a great influence on the thermomechanical properties of these materials. The determination of the stresses values associated to these strains require the knowledge of thermal expansion of stress-free crystals of the same phases. This is the aim of this proposal to determine these fundamental characteristics.