Yield strength of molybdenum at high pressures

In the diamond anvil cell technology, the pressure gradient approach is one of the three major methods in determining the yield strength for various materials at high pressures. In the present work, by in situ measuring the thickness of the sample foil, we have improved the traditional technique in this method. Based on this modification, the yield strength of molybdenum at pressures has been measured. Our main experimental conclusions are as follows: (1) The measured yield strength data for three samples with different initial thickness (100, 250, and 500 microm) are in good agreement above a peak pressure of 10 GPa. (2) The measured yield strength can be fitted into a linear formula Y=0.48(+/-0.19)+0.14(+/-0.01)P (Y and P denote the yield strength and local pressure, respectively, both of them are in gigapascals) in the local pressure range of 8-21 GPa. This result is in good agreement with both Y=0.46+0.13P determined in the pressure range of 5-24 GPa measured by the radial x-ray diffraction technique and the previous shock wave data below 10 GPa. (3) The zero-pressure yield strength of Mo is 0.5 GPa when we extrapolate our experimental data into the ambient pressure. It is close to the tensile strength of 0.7 GPa determined by Bridgman [Phys. Rev. 48, 825 (1934)] previously. The modified method described in this article therefore provides the confidence in determination of the yield strength at high pressures.