THERMAL EXPANSION STUDIES ON THE GROUP IV-VII TRANSITION METAL DIBORIDES.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0022-5088(88)90219-6

The thermal expansions of the group IV-VII transition metal diborides were studied with the aid of X-ray powder diffraction. The diborides were studied over the temperature range 298 - 1500 K. All the diborides except for CrB//2 display larger thermal expansion coefficients in the c direction than in the a direction. The expansion coefficients in the c direction decrease with increasing radius of the metal atom, a fact which can be correlated to an increase in metal-boron bond strength. The thermal expansion coefficient in the a direction changes very little with the size of the metal radius, owing to the fact that the bonding strength in the basal plane is determined by the strong B-B bonds within the boron layer.