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Plastic deformation and post-deformation annealing in chromite: Mechanisms and implications

  • Biswajit Ghosh EMAIL logo , Santanu Misra and Tomoaki Morishita
Published/Copyright: January 3, 2017
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American Mineralogist
From the journal American Mineralogist Volume 102 Issue 1

Abstract

Plastic deformation in chromite is not frequently reported in literature. We present a detailed microstructural analysis of this mineral from the massive chromitite of the Neoarchaean Sittampundi Complex, southern India. The study reveals intracrystalline plasticity is dominantly active in this mineral, and it produces distinctive features corresponding to at least two different microstructural regimes. The Regime 1 is deformation-related and it commenced with recovery of strained grains and formation of new grains, corresponding to subgrain rotation recrystallization. This was followed by nucleation of strain-free new grains in regions of high strain. The Regime 2 appears to be post-deformational and dominantly temperature-controlled, producing distinctive features of static annealing of already deformed grains. This regime corresponds to grain boundary migration recrystallization resulting coarsening of strain-free facetted, new grains at the expense of high-dislocation density subgrains. The resultant micro-features resemble closely what is known as “abnormal grain growth,” not yet documented for chromites. These coarse grains, in places, also feature accommodation of deformation by displaying very low-angle subgrain boundaries. The movement of high-angle grain boundaries in Regime 2 through precursor strained grains provided high diffusivity paths for the rapid exchange of components, producing compositional heterogeneity between grains dominated by deformation features and facetted new grains. These microstructural observations coupled with chemical heterogeneity provide new directions in interpreting the deformation mechanism of chromite and its annealing history at the post-deformation stage.

Keywords: Chromite; plastic deformation and recrystallization; strain-free new grain; annealing; abnormal grain growth

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Zoja Vukmanovic and one anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the text and figures. Editorial handling and constructive criticism by Sandra Piazolo is greatly acknowledged. Shashank Shekhar is acknowledged for his critical reading of the manuscript. Karsten Kunze from Scientific Center for Optical and Electron Microscopy (ETZ Zurich) assisted in obtaining and analyzing the EBSD data. B.G. acknowledges the financial support received from UGC-DRS Phase-II 2013-18, Government of India and JSPS Invitation Fellowship (FY 2015). S.M. thanks the infrastructural facilities provided by IIT Kanpur.

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Received: 2016-2-4
Accepted: 2016-8-25
Published Online: 2017-1-3
Published in Print: 2017-1-1

© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2017-5709
Keywords for this article
Chromite; plastic deformation and recrystallization; strain-free new grain; annealing; abnormal grain growth

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  2. Periodic activity in continental magmatic arcs
  3. Highlights and Breakthroughs
  4. Early warning signs for mining accidents: Detecting crackling noise
  5. Review
  6. Fluids and trace element transport in subduction zones
  7. Solved: The enigma of labradorite feldspar with incommensurately modulated structure
  8. Solved: The enigma of labradorite feldspar with incommensurately modulated structure
  9. Special Collection: Earth Analogs for Martian Geological Materials and Processes
  10. Formation of the ferruginous smectite SWa-1 by alteration of soil clays
  11. Special Collection: Advances in Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism
  12. Dissolving dolomite in a stable UHP mineral assemblage: Evidence from Cal-Dol marbles of the Dora-Maira Massif (Italian Western Alps)
  13. Special collection: Apatite: a common mineral, uncommonly versatile
  14. Hydroxyl, Cl, and F partitioning between high-silica rhyolitic melts-apatite-fluid(s) at 50–200 MPa and 700–1000 °C
  15. Special collection: Apatite: a common mineral, uncommonly versatile
  16. Apatite trace element and isotope applications to petrogenesis and provenance
  17. Special collection: Apatite: a common mineral, uncommonly versatile
  18. Raman and IR studies of the effect of Fe substitution in hydroxyapatites and deuterated hydroxyapatite
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  21. Special collection: Olivine
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  24. Cobalt mineral ecology
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  32. Infrared spectra of carbonate apatites: Evidence for a connection between bone mineral and body fluids
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  38. Effect of composition on compressibility of skiagite-Fe-majorite garnet
  40. An integrated EPMA-EBSD study of metamorphic histories recorded in garnet
  42. A new formula and crystal structure for nickelskutterudite, (Ni,Co,Fe)As3, and occupancy of the icosahedral cation site in the skutterudite group
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