JOURNAL OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY OF SOLIDS, cilt.153, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
The high-pressure behavior of a very low-density amorphous zircon model having Zr (Si) coordination of 5.6 (4.02) is explored by ab initio simulations. Two consecutive pressure-induced phase modifications are proposed for this material. The first transition is from a very low-density amorphous state to a dense amorphous state having Zr (Si) coordination of 7.3 (4.5). The second one is from the dense phase to a high-density amorphous structure with Zr and Si coordination numbers of about 8 and 5.5, correspondingly. Both phase changes proceed progressively. The first phase transformation is irreversible whist the second one is reversible.