Tilt strain glass in Sr and Nb co-doped LaAlO3 ceramics

Abstract Strain glass, a glassy state of lattice strain, has been found in Ti50-xNi50+x alloys and later in many metallic ferroelastic/martensitic systems, where shear or shuffle serves as a primary order parameter (POP). Another class of non-metallic ferroelastic ceramics are also known to widely exist and commonly possess a polyhedral tilt as the POP. So far, it is unclear whether a “tilt” strain glass exists. Here, we report a finding of a tilt strain glass in La1-xSrxAl0.95Nb0.05O3-δ ceramics. With increasing Sr2+ dopants, the ferroelastic transition from cubic to rhombohedral phases is gradually suppressed. At a critical concentration (xc ∼10%), a strain glass transition emerges, characterized by five sets of evidence: (I) an invariance of average structure; (II) frequency dependence of elastic moduli at a strain glass transition temperature Tg; (III) non-ergodicity; (IV) formation of rhombohedral nanodomains; (V) a gradual increase of tilt angle upon cooling. Surprisingly, the established phase diagram shows an increase of Tg with increasing dopants (a positive correlation), which is different from previous strain glass phase diagrams. The positive and negative correlations can be explained as a balance between two factors of strain glass transition: a global transition factor producing a negative contribution competes with a local field one producing a positive contribution. Our discovery of strain glass in ceramics may also bring novel properties as in metals.