Formation of Fractal Micro- and Nano-Structures in Ceramic Tantalum Pentoxide Under Concentrated Flux of Light and Their Effect on Thermal Expansion

Oxides of weak thermal expansion are the basis for stable ceramics and artefacts resistant to sharp cyclic variations of temperature. For technical applications is a wide interest in high-temperature materials of low or negative thermal expansion and, particularly, in studies of the micromechanisms in Ta2O5. Thermal expansion of ceramic pentoxides of tantalum is affected by conditions under which they are formed. After treatment by concentrated light flows anomalous segments of zero and even negative thermal expansion appear in ceramics of Ta2O5. The effect of treatment by concentrated light flux on formation of fractal nano-structures and thermal expansion of ceramic tantalum pentoxide was studied.