Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T12:51:47.201Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

ATEM investigation of experimentally annealed sillimanite: new constraints for the SiO2–Al2O3 join

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

P. Raterron*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Structure et Propriétés de l’Etat Solide (associated with CNRS), Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
M. Carpenter
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
J.-C. Doukhan
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Structure et Propriétés de l’Etat Solide (associated with CNRS), Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

Abstract

Four samples of Fe-bearing prismatic sillimanite, containing ∼1 wt.% Fe2O3, were annealed experimentally at temperatures of 1465 and 1675°C, and pressures between 1 atm and 30 kbar. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analytical TEM (ATEM) investigation of the samples reveal that the starting material partly transformed into mullite during the annealing, and that this process was assisted by partial melting. The exsolved partial melt (now a glass), observed at triple junctions and in the form of small precipitates (∼10–1000 nm in size) within the sillimanite matrix, contains >80 wt.% SiO2. It also contains ∼11 wt.% Al2O3, some FeO and detectable amounts of K2O and CaO. Dissociated c dislocations in sillimanite are preferential nucleation sites for SiO2-rich precipitates. The equilibrium compositions of residual sillimanite-mullite were measured with a 2 nm wide probe at the interface with the SiO2-rich glass in each sample after heat treatment. We used these equilibrium compositions to constrain the parameters of a point defect model for sillimanite mullitization proposed by Raterron et al. (1999). With the revised parameterization, it is now possible to calculate the position of the boundary between fields of mullite + melt and mullite in the SiO2–Al2O3 phase diagram, and to predict the effect of pressure on this boundary. However, to be used as a standard, this model still needs to be calibrated in the pure SiO2–Al2O3 system (without impurities such as iron).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Present address: Center for High Pressure Research (CHiPR), Department of Geosciences, ESS Building, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY11794-2100, USA

References

Angel, R.J. and Prewitt, C.T. (1986) Crystal structure of mullite: a re-examination of the average structure. Amer. Miner., 71, 1476–82.Google Scholar
Askay, I.A. and Pask, J.A. (1975) Stable and metastable equilibria in the system SiO2–Al2O3 . J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 58, 507–12.Google Scholar
Holland, T.J.B. and Carpenter, M.A. (1986) Aluminium/silicon disordering and melting in sillimanite at high pressures. Nature, 320, 151–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klug, F.J., Prochazka, S. and Doremus, R.H. (1987); Alumina-silica phase diagram in the mullite region. J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 70, 750–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kröger, F.A. (1974) The Chemistry of Imperfect Crystals, 2nd edition. North-Holland, New York.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, A. and Paquet, J. (1983) Dissociation of c dislocations in sillimanite Al2SiO5 . Bull. Minéral., 106, 287–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menard, D. and Doukhan, J.C. (1978) Défauts de réseau dans la sillimanite Al2O3–SiO2 . J. Physique, 39, L19L22.Google Scholar
Navrotsky, A., R.C. Newton, R.C., and Kleppa, O.J. (1973) Sillimanite-disordering enthalpy by calorimetry. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 37, 2497–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pask, J.A. (1996) Importance of starting materials on reactions and phase equilibria in the Al2O3–SiO2 system. J. Euro. Ceramic Soc., 16, 101–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raterron, P., Carpenter, M.A. and Doukhan, J.C. (1999) Sillimanite mullitization: ATEM investigation and point defect model. Phase Transitions, 68, 451500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salje, E. (1986) Heat capacities and entropies of andalusite and sillimanite: the influence of . brolitization on the phase diagram of the Al2SiO5 polymorphs. Amer. Miner., 71, 1366–71.Google Scholar
Salje, E. and Werneke, C. (1982) The phase equilibrium between sillimanite and andalusite as determined from lattice vibrations. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 79, 5667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smyth, D.M. and Stocker, R.L. (1975) Point defects and non-stoichiometry in forsterite. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 10, 183–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Cappelen, E. and Doukhan, J.C. (1994) Quantitative transmission X-ray microanalysis of ionic compounds. Ultra Microsc., 53, 343–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar