The relative strength of perovskite and post-perovskite NaCoF3

Stable perovskite and metastable post-perovskite NaCoF 3 were deformed in pure-shear geometry in a deformation-DIA press with radiographic monitoring of the sample strain. In isothermal experiments where there was no transformation, post-perovskite was found to be 5 times weaker than perovskite. In temperature-ramping experiments where post-perovskite transformed to perovskite during the deformation experiment the initial post-perovskite sample was 5–10 times weaker than perovskite under comparable conditions and their strengths converged during the transformation, being equal on completion of the transformation. These results confirm recent findings which show that postperovskite is weaker than perovskite, regardless of the prior history of the sample.