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Electrical conductivity measurements in piston cylinder press: metal shielding in the assembly design and implications

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Abstract

Laboratory measurements of the electrical conductivity of silicate materials at well-constrained conditions are important for insights into the structure and physicochemical properties of the Earth’s interior, of which the key is an accurate determination of sample resistance with a correctly designed sample assembly. Piston cylinder press is often used for conductivity studies at high-pressure and high-temperature. Many assembly designs have been developed, and the most distinguishable difference is whether or not a metal shielding layer (separating sample from furnace) is applied. The metal shielding might protect samples from likely leakage currents through pressure medium and also electrical interferences from furnace in the assemblies. The assembly designs with and without the shielding may yield different conductivity data. We have carefully addressed this issue by measuring the conductivity of three typical materials, microline and olivine (mineral) and obsidian (quenched rhyolite melt) which are characterized by different electrical properties, over a wide range of temperature (200–1350 °C) at 1 GPa in a piston cylinder press. The conductivity was determined with a Solartron 1260 Impedance/Gain Phase analyser, by sweeping from 106 to 1 Hz. The results demonstrate that, for each material under otherwise comparable conditions, the measured conductivity is essentially the same regardless of the use of the metal shielding in the assembly. This suggests that the metal shielding technique is not necessary for conductivity runs with a piston cylinder press. Two-fold implications are provided from the determined data. First, conductivity experiments by not using a metal shielding in the design can greatly reduce the difficulty in machining the assembly parts, as well as their assembling for the experimental studies. This offers a solid basis for both the design and execution of conductivity experiments. Second, the measured data show that the conductivity of dry olivine under relatively oxidizing conditions in the shallow mantle is actually much higher than previous estimates based on studies under reducing conditions. Olivine itself may cause many conductive regions in the oxidized topmost mantle. This is critical to understanding the electrical structure of the upper mantle and inferring the bulk conductivity of olivine-bearing assemblages (e.g. peridotites) in the oxidized shallow mantle.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Qiao Zhu for assistance with conductivity experiments, Suwen Qiu with EMP measurements, and Juan Li with BSE imaging. Constructive comments by Fabrice Gaillard and one anonymous reviewer and editorial handling by Othmar Müntener helped to improve the manuscript. This study was supported by National Science Foundation of China (42230301 and 41725008), Research Funds for the Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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  1. State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xiaozhi Yang, Hanyong Liu & Xinhao Zhao

  2. Frontiers Science Center for Critical Earth Material Cycling, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Xiaozhi Yang

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  1. Xiaozhi Yang
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Correspondence to Xiaozhi Yang.

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Communicated by Othmar Müntener.

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Yang, X., Liu, H. & Zhao, X. Electrical conductivity measurements in piston cylinder press: metal shielding in the assembly design and implications. Contrib Mineral Petrol 178, 18 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-023-02000-4

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