Creating a high temperature environment at high pressure in a gas piston cylinder apparatus

An internal heater capable of 1400 K has been developed for use with a gas piston cylinder apparatus capable of achieving in excess of 3 GPa with an argon pressure medium. The heated gas piston cylinder produces a truly hydrostatic environment for samples up to 3 mm in diameter and 8 mm in length. The apparatus can be used to study systems that are sensitive to stress or samples that cannot withstand shear tractions. The gas piston cylinder apparatus was developed in an effort to reduce experimental uncertainty in the pressure scale and has been used to improve understanding of the Bi I-II transition at 298 K. We estimate that the pressure during a high temperature soak in the gas piston cylinder can be known to within ±0.01 GPa.