Heater cell for materials synthesis and crystal growth in the large volume high pressure apparatus at 10 GPa

To realize materials synthesis and crystal growth in a large volume of high pressure apparatus in the region of 10 GPa, a heater cell was developed for a belt-type high pressure apparatus with a bore diameter of 32 mm. The cell consists of a cylindrical electrode made of TiC powders located between a pair of graphite heaters with a disk shape. High temperature of 1500 degreesC at nominal pressure of 9.7 GPa (9.35 GPa corrected) was successfully generated for 1 h using the cell. Synthesis and growth of stishovite was performed at high pressure and high temperature conditions based on their calibrations. Experimental results suggest that the materials synthesis and crystal growth above 10 GPa can be realized in a large volume of belt-type apparatus using the heater cell. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.