Anelastic spectroscopy as a selective probe to reveal and characterize spurious phases in solid state compounds

Spurious phases in solid compounds were revealed and characterized using anelastic spectroscopy as a selective probe. La1-xCaxMnO3 specimens with nominal doping were prepared by solid state reaction. Results indicated that at low temperatures the samples showed a decrease in relative change of Young's modulus and a spike at 42 K in Q-1, coupled with a peak around 20 K. This proved that anelastic spectroscopy could be a sensitive tool in detecting and characterizing spurious phases in the case of compounds which presented peculiar phase transitions.