Defect structure of metal oxides at high temperatures

Abstract

AbstractHigh temperature oxidation of some metals contained in special alloys has been studied. Defect models for pure an doped CoO and pure NiO were developed and fitted to electrical conductivity data. The models involve different kinds of theoretically possible complex defects with different numbers of vacancies and interstitials forming a cluster. Equilibrium constants for defects formation have been estimated using an algorithm based on the constrained variation method that allows fitting of data to implicit models involving errors in all the measured variables. Results indicate the presence of a significant concentration of complex defects in CoO at high temperatures, while confirming the rather small concentration of these defects in NiO.