Mechanical metamaterials associated with stiffness, rigidity and compressibility: a brief review

Negative thermal expansion (NTE) is an intriguing physical property of solids, which is a consequence of a complex interplay among the lattice, phonons, and electrons. Interestingly, a large number of NTE materials have been found in various types of functional materials. In the last two decades good progress has been achieved to discover new phenomena and mechanisms of NTE. In the present review article, NTE is reviewed in functional materials of ferroelectrics, magnetics, multiferroics, superconductors, temperature-induced electron configuration change and so on. Zero thermal expansion (ZTE) of functional materials is emphasized due to the importance for practical applications. The NTE functional materials present a general physical picture to reveal a strong coupling role between physical properties and NTE. There is a general nature of NTE for both ferroelectrics and magnetics, in which NTE is determined by either ferroelectric order or magnetic one. In NTE functional materials, a multi-way to control thermal expansion can be established through the coupling roles of ferroelectricity-NTE, magnetism-NTE, change of electron configuration-NTE, open-framework-NTE, and so on. Chemical modification has been proved to be an effective method to control thermal expansion. Finally, challenges and questions are discussed for the development of NTE materials. There remains a challenge to discover a “perfect” NTE material for each specific application for chemists. The future studies on NTE functional materials will definitely promote the development of NTE materials.

Negative thermal expansion in functional materials: controllable thermal expansion by chemical modifications

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1468-6996/13/1/013001/pdf

Negative Thermal Expansion Materials: Technological Key for Control of Thermal Expansion

Negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials have become a rapidly growing area of research over the past two decades. The initial discovery of materials displaying NTE over a large temperature range, combined with elucidation of the mechanism behind this unusual property, was followed by predictions that these materials will find use in various applications through controlled thermal expansion composites. While some patents have been filed and devices built, a number of obstacles have prevented the widespread implementation of NTE materials to date. This paper reviews NTE materials that contract due to transverse atomic vibrations, their potential for use in controlled thermal expansion composites, and known problems that could interfere with such applications.

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Two Decades of Negative Thermal Expansion Research: Where Do We Stand?

Materials with negative Poisson's ratio attract considerable attention due to their underlying intriguing physical properties and numerous promising applications, particularly in stringent environments such as aerospace and defense areas, because of their unconventional mechanical enhancements. Recent progress in materials with a negative Poisson's ratio are reviewed here, with the current state of research regarding both theory and experiment. The inter-relationship between the underlying structure and a negative Poisson's ratio is discussed in functional materials, including macroscopic bulk, low-dimensional nanoscale particles, films, sheets, or tubes. The coexistence and correlations with other negative indexes (such as negative compressibility and negative thermal expansion) are also addressed. Finally, open questions and future research opportunities are proposed for functional materials with negative Poisson's ratios.

Negative Poisson's Ratio in Modern Functional Materials

The unusual property of negative thermal expansion is of fundamental interest and may be used to fabricate composites with zero or other controlled thermal expansion values. Here we report that colossal negative thermal expansion (defined as linear expansion <-10(-4) K(-1) over a temperature range ~100 K) is accessible in perovskite oxides showing charge-transfer transitions. BiNiO(3) shows a 2.6% volume reduction under pressure due to a Bi/Ni charge transfer that is shifted to ambient pressure through lanthanum substitution for Bi. Changing proportions of coexisting low- and high-temperature phases leads to smooth volume shrinkage on heating. The crystallographic linear expansion coefficient for Bi(0.95)La(0.05)NiO(3) is -137×10(-6) K(-1) and a value of -82×10(-6) K(-1) is observed between 320 and 380 K from a dilatometric measurement on a ceramic pellet. Colossal negative thermal expansion materials operating at ambient conditions may also be accessible through metal-insulator transitions driven by other phenomena such as ferroelectric orders.

/pdf/colossal-negative-thermal-expansion-in-binio3-induced-by-2of5yekja2.pdf

Michal Czapski

Papers

Colossal negative thermal expansion in BiNiO3 induced by intermetallic charge transfer