Hot Pressing of Polycrystals of High-pressure Phases of Mantle Minerals in Multi-anvil Apparatus

In the 1960s, E. Schreiber and his colleagues pioneered the use of hot-pressed polycrystalline aggregates for studies of the pressure and temperature dependence of the elastic wave velocities in minerals. We have extended this work to the high-pressure polymorphs of mantle minerals by developing techniques to fabricate large polycrystalline specimens in a 2000-ton uniaxial split-sphere apparatus. A new cell assembly has been developed to extend this capability to pressures of 20 GPa and temperatures of 1700°C. Key elements in the new experimental design include: a telescopic LaCrO₃ for T > 1200°C; Toshiba Tungaloy grade F tungsten carbide anvils; and the use of homogeneous glasses or seeded powder mixtures as starting material to enhance reactivity and maximize densities. Cell temperatures are linearly related to electrical power to 1700°C and uniform throughout the 3 mm specimens. Pressure calibrations at 25°C and 1700°C are identical to 15 GPa. Cylindrical specimens of the beta and spinel phases of Mg₂SiO₄, stishovite (SiO₂-rutile), and majorite-pyrope garnets have been synthesized within their stability fields in runs of 1–4 hr duration and recovered at ambient conditions by simultaneously decompressing and cooling along a computer-controlled P-T path designed to preserve the high-pressure phase and to relax intergranular stress in the polycrystalline aggregate. These specimens are single-phased, fine-grained (<5 micron), free of microcracks and preferred orientation, and have bulk densities greater than 99% of X-ray density. The successful fabrication of these high-quality polycrystalline specimens has made possible experiments to determine the pressure dependence of acoustic velocities in the ultrasonics laboratory of S. M. Rigden and I. Jackson at the Australian National University.