The enthalpies of drop solution (
Hds) for several polymorphs of ZrW
2O
8 (cubic, orthorhombic, trigonal,
and amorphous), ZrMo
2O
8 (cubic, trigonal, monoclinic,
and amorphous),
and HfMo
2O
8 (cubic, trigonal,
and amorphous) have been measured in molten 3Na
2O·4MoO
3 at 975 K. Using the values of
Hds forthe binary oxides, we calculated enthalpies of formation from the oxides at 298 K. Monoclinic ZrMo
2O
8is the only polymorph examined that is enthalpically stable relative to the binary oxides (
Hf,ox = -5.1± 3.5 kJ/mol),
and even that stability is marginal. The
Hf,ox values for cubic
and trigonal ZrMo
2O
8 are45.2 ± 5.3
and 32.2 ± 4.5 kJ/mol, respectively; for cubic
and trigonal HfMo
2O
8, 55.8 ± 3.1,
and 46.5± 3.6 kJ/mol, respectively;
and for cubic, orthorhombic,
and trigonal ZrW
2O
8, 64.8 ± 2.8, 50.6 ± 3.0,
and 49.8 ± 4.1 kJ/mol, respectively. Therefore, these phases are either entropically stabilized
and/ortheir formation/persistence is kinetically controlled. The enthalpies of formation from the oxides, at ambientpressure, for the amorphous phases recovered after compression of the cubic polymorphs in a multianvilpress are more positive than those of the crystalline polymorphs: 98.9 ± 5.0 kJ/mol for ZrMo
2O
8, 102.0± 6.3 kJ/mol for HfMo
2O
8,
and 127.8 ± 5.5 kJ/mol for ZrW
2O
8. The entropies of the amorphous phasesare probably greater than those for the cubic ones
and thus the pressure-induced amorphous phase canbe entropically (as well as volumetrically) favored,
and the pressure-induced amorphization boundaryprobably has a negative
P-
T slope. Nevertheless, these amorphous phases could be metastable withrespect to more dense crystalline polymorphs, either in the P-T range where they are observed or athigher pressure.