Aluminum oxynitride at pressures up to 180 GPa

Abstract

Hugoniot equation-of-state data of shock compressed aluminum oxynitride (AlON), consisting of 64.1 mol% Al2O3⋅35.9 mol% AlN with a density of ∼3.68 g/cm3, have been determined to 180 GPa. The relationship between shock velocity (Us) and particle velocity (Up) is expressed by a straight line: Us(km/s)=8.08+0.761Up(km/s). Although there is no evidence of phase transition in the data, the determined Hugoniot of AlON has been compared with those of oxide spinels such as MgAl2O4 and Fe3O4. We discuss the systematics of high pressure phase transitions of spinels that indicate a phase transition to CaTi2O4-type phases. The phase transition to CaTi2O4-type structures implies that the recently discovered Si3N4 spinel also may be transformed into a CaTi2O4-type phase with increasing pressure.