Synthesis of cubic ZrWMoO8 by a melt quenching method

Abstract We report a novel approach for fabrication of cubic ZrWMoO8 applying a melt quenching method. The stoichiometric mixture of ZrO2, WO3 and MoO3 in a 1:1:1 M ratio was melted and quenched at room temperature by pouring the melts between two metal plates. The quenched sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. As quenched material is polyphase contains above 70% ZrWMoO8. The obtained composite is thermal stable up to 930 °C. The ZrWMoO8 was indexed as cubic with a lattice parameter a = 9.1263 (3) A calculated by the “PowderCell” program. By SEM observation it was established that the microstructure of bulk composite material is built up of one-direction orientated agglomerates with cuboid crystal morphology.