What's Next: The scientists are looking at other ceramics that share the same characteristics as
gadolinium zirconate to further test their hypothesis about radiation tolerance.
The secret to its success is PZT, or
lead zirconate titanate, which is piezoelectric.
Bar - Cohen lifts a small grayish disk off one of the lab benches, saying, «This one's made of PZT — lead
zirconate titanate.»
Their results explained why
gadolinium zirconate is much more radiation tolerant than gadolinium titanate.
In recent years, researchers have begun exploring alternative membranes made from ceramics called yttrium - doped
barium zirconates (BZY).
The zirconate pyrochlore has a mechanism to shuffle the positive ions in a way that does not increase energy.
The oxygen ions in
the zirconate can move around fast enough in their clean - up job to keep up with the rate of damage.
In
the zirconate, this spontaneous generation of secondary defects in response to the primary defect is part of the self - healing process by which the radiation energy is dissipated and volume expansion is avoided.
When the ions were repeatedly knocked out of position to simulate radiation damage,
the zirconate pyrochlore «healed» itself.
These were gadolinium titanate (Gd2Ti2O7) and gadolinium
zirconate (Gd2Zr2O7), both pyrochlore ceramics.