| dc.contributor.author | Maclean, Ian Daniel. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:38:43Z | |
| dc.date.available | 1992 | |
| dc.date.issued | 1992 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINN80101 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/55315 | |
| dc.description | A new instrument for the measurement of the expansion properties of mechanically weak materials is developed. This device uses a three-terminal capacitance technique in tandem with a negative feedback scheme to monitor length changes in compounds of low quasi-dimensionality with a resolution of 0.1 ppm. A novel technique of "self-heated" expansion allows the calculation of the absolute thermal expansion coefficient without the complication of cell-correction effects. High-resolution thermal expansion results are shown for the quasi-two-dimensional charge-density-wave (CDW) compound 2H-TaSe$\sb2$. The previously unknown thermal expansion properties of the quasi-one-dimensional CDW compounds o-TaS$\sb3$ and NbSe$\sb3$ are presented as well. Measurements of the length changes of the latter two materials as a function of applied electric field allow the estimation of the zero-frequency Young's modulus changes in the non-linear regime. These results are interpreted within a phase-relaxation model of CDW elasticity incorporating a continuous distribution of relaxation times. Refinements of both the instrument and the technique are discussed. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 1992. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | Engineering, Mechanical. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Engineering, Materials Science. | en_US |
| dc.title | Tunnelling dilatometry in low-dimensional compounds. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
