The stability of the ε phase of zirconium hydride is studied using the pseudopotential plane wave method. The fluorite structure is mechanically unstable with respect to a tetragonal distortion. However, the minimum corresponding to $c>a$ is almost degenerate in energy with that for $c<a$. The distortion explains the uniaxial misfit strain responsible for delayed hydride cracking in zirconium alloys.
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Graeme J. Ackland (1998) studied this question.
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