
pages 413-418
Available online: 31 Aug 2011Simultaneous in situ pressure–resistance measurements were carried out up to 40 GPa using a multianvil apparatus with synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Pressure-induced electrical resistance changes in zirconium were measured at ambient temperatures and two discontinuities were observed around the α–ω and ω–β structural phase transitions. The transition pressures were strictly determined from simultaneous measurements of the electrical resistance and in situ XRD as 7.96±0.16 and 34.5±0.3 GPa, respectively, using an equation of state for gold as the pressure scale. The precisely determined transition pressures are available for room temperature pressure calibration points for large volume presses installed at offline laboratories.