High Temperature Mechanical Spectrum and Interstitial Oxygen in YBaCuFeO5+δ

Abstract

Double perovskite oxide YBaCuFeO5+δ samples (labeled as “as-prepared”) were sintered by a solid-state reaction technique. Mechanical spectra of as-prepared sample were measured under vacuum condition from room temperature up to 720K by the reed vibration method. In the first heating run, two internal friction peaks were observed around 380 and 620K (labeled as P1 and P2, respectively) in YBaCuFeO5+δ. In the subsequent cooling run, both of them disappeared and a small step-like decrease of the internal friction around 500K was found. This step-like change was reproduced in the following thermal cycles. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was also performed in order to monitor the oxygen content of the sample. It showed that the interstitial oxygen concentration decreased in the first heating run. The interstitial oxygen relaxation is suggested to be the origin of P1 peak. In dielectric measurements, a dielectric loss peak appeared around the temperature of the P2 internal friction peak and the peak temperature was independent on the measuring frequency. It is expected that P2 is associated with some kind of transitions of the interstitial oxygen. Further mechanical loss measurement of the annealed sample and scanning electron microscopy characterizing the as-prepared and annealed samples, provided more information on the interstitial oxygen in YBaCuFeO5+δ samples.