Novel thermal expansion of lead titanate

Lattice parameters of lead titanate were precisely re-determined in thetemperature range of-150-950 deg C by high precision XRPD measurements. It was clarified that therewas no any evidence for a new phase transition at low tempera-lures. Tetragonal distortion straindecreases with temperature increasing. A novel thermal expansion was observed, positive thermalexpansion from -150 deg C to room temperature (RT) and above 490 deg C, and the negative thermalexpansion in the temperature range of RT-490 deg C. A big jump of thermal expansion coefficient isattributed to the tetragonal-cubic phase transition. A rationalization for the negative thermalexpansion of PbTiO_3 is due to the decrease of anion-anion repulsion as polyhedra become moreregular at heating. The mechanisms of positive and negative thermal expansions were elucidated asthe same nature in the homogenous tetragonal phase at present case.