Negative thermal expansion behavior in single crystal and ceramic of Nb2O5-based compositions

The thermal expansion coefficients of a single crystal and ceramic of Nb2O5 are measured in the temperature range of −200–500 °C by the dilatometer technique. Both single crystals and ceramics of Nb2O5 and Nb2O5(1−x):xTiO2 show negative thermal expansion in this temperature range. Some contribution to the result could be due to the presence of the Magneli phases. The main phase transition temperature, which also matches with the dielectric anomaly, occurs at ≈150 °C.