Structure of pressure compacted vitreous boron oxide

The structure of pressure compacted vitreous B2O3 has been studied by neutr on diffraction using the LAD spectrometer at the ISIS spallation pulsed neu tron source to provide the necessary high real space resolution to investig ate small changes in interatomic distances and coordination numbers. The da ta are in excellent agreement with previous x-ray diffraction results brit of much higher real space resolution. The density compaction results from t he break tip of boroxol groups with increasing pressure but, once the press ure is released. pressure compacted vitreous B2O3 relaxes over a period of several days during which the original boroxol ring fraction is restored