Thermal insulation performance of monoclinic ZrO2 and cubic ZrO2–CaO solid solution under high pressure and high temperature

The thermal insulation performance of cubic ZrO2–CaO solid solution (CSZ) (16 mol % CaO) and monoclinic ZrO2 (MZ) was investigated in a two-stage multi-anvil press under a pressure of 10 GPa and temperatures up to 1800°C through in situ temperature measurements with the same cell assembly. The results show that the cell temperatures with CSZ as the thermal insulator were always higher than that when thermal insulator was MZ at the same heating power, and the maximum deviation value was 600°C (50% higher) within the measurable range. These two materials were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal conductivity measurement and scanning electron microscopy. It revealed that the point defects existed in CSZ dominated the thermal insulation performance at high pressure, the same as what at normal pressure. It was also found that the heating process was more controllable when using CSZ as thermal insulator under high pressure.