Thermal expansion of the C15 Laves-phase materials TaV2 and TaV2H x

Abstract

The thermal expansion of the C15 Laves-phase material TaV2H x was measured over the temperature range of 130–350 K for x = 0, 0.34 and 0.53. A primary objective of the study was to see if the anomalous temperature dependence of elastic constants found in an earlier study is due to, or associated with, unusual thermal expansion. The expansion was typical of transition metals, and quite close to theoretical results for related Laves-phase materials. Grüneisen parameters were determined from the measurements, and these were also typical of transition metals, and close to calculated values for related materials. Both the thermal expansion and the Grüneisen parameters of TaV2 decreased somewhat with the addition of hydrogen. No anomalous behavior of the expansion was found that might account for the highly anomalous temperature dependence of elastic moduli reported earlier. This absence is consistent with the attribution of the elastic constant behavior to an electronic structure effect.