Structural Stability of Hafnia-Based Materials at Ultra-High Temperature

This study assesses the structural stability at ultra-high temperature of the following selected compositions: 6.5 and 14 mol. % of RE2O3 (RE = Dy, Y, Er, Yb, and Lu) doped HfO2. Under thermal cycling and thermal shock, the structural stability was evaluated at 2400 degrees C with water vapor flux using a specific test bench with a 3 kW CO2 laser. The cubic phase stability, which is theoretically important in the broad temperature range from 25 to 2800 degrees C, was determined by a quantitative analysis of the X-ray diffractograms. Fully and partially stabilized HfO2, obtained respectively with 14 mol. % and 6.5 mol. % of dopants, showed different behaviors to thermal damage. Thermal expansion was measured up to 1650 degrees C to anticipate dimensional changes of these stabilized samples and to be able to design an optimized material solution fitting with future combustion chamber requirements. All of these results were then considered in order to exhibit a trend on the thermal stability at 2400 degrees C of the ionic radius of the dopants and their optimal doping rates.