Hardness, toughness, and modulus of some common metamorphic minerals
-
Donna L. Whitney
,
Margaret Broz
Abstract
Studies of the hardness and toughness of minerals have historically focused on minerals of the Mohs scale, although, with the exceptions of quartz, orthoclase, and calcite, Mohs phases are not common rock-forming minerals. We report new hardness (H), toughness (resistance to fracture, KIC), and indentation modulus (E*) data obtained by microhardness and depth-sensing indentation (DSI, or nanoindentation) experiments for common metamorphic minerals: sillimanite, kyanite, andalusite, garnet, quartz, and orthoclase feldspar. Because the experimental techniques involve indentation-induced cracking as well as depth-sensing indentation, the new data set can be used to investigate a range of plastic behavior for minerals in the crust and mantle.
The three Al2SiO5 polymorphs have similar H values (~10.12 GPa): kyanite has the largest values and andalusite the smallest. These values are similar to that of quartz (~12 GPa) and greater than that of orthoclase (~7 GPa). Garnet H values vary with composition: for grossular, H ~ 13 GPa, and for almandine-pyrope, H ~ 15 GPa. Although H values for the minerals we analyzed span a range of ~10 GPa, most fracture toughness values are between 1.1.8 MPa·m½. Garnet is much harder than Al2SiO5, but has a similar to slightly lower KIC (grossular ~1.2 MPa·m½; almandine-pyrope ~1.4 MPa·m½; andalusite 1.8 MPa·m½; sillimanite 1.6 MPa·m½); kyanite KIC is difficult to measure owing to the ease with which kyanite cleaves. Garnet has properties similar to those of cubic zirconia (ZrO2), which we measured as a reference. Another reference mineral, periclase (MgO), has the lowest H (~5 GPa) and the highest KIC (~4 MPa·m½) of minerals we measured. Among the silicates, E* varies significantly from orthoclase (~89 GPa) to quartz (~117 GPa) to garnet (245.260 GPa), and Al2SiO5 has intermediate values: kyanite ~ 186.253 GPa, sillimanite ~ 207 GPa, andalusite ~ 232 GPa.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Combined cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging and wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis of minerals
- Identification of cathodoluminescence activators in zoned alkali feldspars by hyperspectral imaging and electron-probe microanalysis
- Ionoluminescence of leucophanite
- Digital near-infrared (NIR) cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and image processing
- Significance of aluminum phosphate-sulfate minerals associated with U unconformity-type deposits: The Athabasca basin, Canada
- Hardness, toughness, and modulus of some common metamorphic minerals
- Diffusion compensation for argon, hydrogen, lead, and strontium in minerals: Empirical relationships to crystal chemistry
- Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part I. Landau theory and a calibration for SrTiO3
- Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part II. Calibration for the effects of composition and pressur
- Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part III. Experimental investigation of polycrystalline samples
- Patterns in the compositions of oxysalt and sulfosalt minerals, and the paradoxical nature of quartz
- Effect of variable carbonate concentration on the solidus of mantle peridotite
- Time-resolved structural analysis of K- and Ba-exchange reactions with synthetic Na-birnessite using synchrotron X-ray diffraction
- Heat capacity of synthetic hydrous Mg-cordierite at low temperatures: Thermodynamic properties and the behavior of the H2O molecule in selected hydrous micro and nanoporous silicates
- Organic anions in layered double hydroxides: An experimental investigation of citrate hydrotalcite
- The 6H-SiC structure model: Further refinement from SCXRD data from a terrestrial moissanite
- Cobalt incorporation in mullite
- Thermal expansion between 480 and 940 °C of Cr-doped mullites derived from single-phase precursors
- Armbrusterite, K5Na6Mn3+Mn2+14[Si9O22]4(OH)10·4H2O, a new Mn hydrous heterophyllosilicate from the Khibiny alkaline massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia
- Letter. An empirical scaling model for averaging elastic properties including interfacial effects
- Letter. Optical absorption spectra of ferropericlase to 84 GPa
- Letter. The acoustic emissions signature of a pressure-induced polytypic transformation in chlorite
- Letter. A new high-pressure CaGe2O5 polymorph with 5- and 6-coordinated germanium
- Letter. Terrestrial analogs of martian jarosites: Major, minor element systematics and Na-K zoning in selected samples
Articles in the same Issue
- Combined cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging and wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis of minerals
- Identification of cathodoluminescence activators in zoned alkali feldspars by hyperspectral imaging and electron-probe microanalysis
- Ionoluminescence of leucophanite
- Digital near-infrared (NIR) cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and image processing
- Significance of aluminum phosphate-sulfate minerals associated with U unconformity-type deposits: The Athabasca basin, Canada
- Hardness, toughness, and modulus of some common metamorphic minerals
- Diffusion compensation for argon, hydrogen, lead, and strontium in minerals: Empirical relationships to crystal chemistry
- Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part I. Landau theory and a calibration for SrTiO3
- Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part II. Calibration for the effects of composition and pressur
- Elastic anomalies accompanying phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites: Part III. Experimental investigation of polycrystalline samples
- Patterns in the compositions of oxysalt and sulfosalt minerals, and the paradoxical nature of quartz
- Effect of variable carbonate concentration on the solidus of mantle peridotite
- Time-resolved structural analysis of K- and Ba-exchange reactions with synthetic Na-birnessite using synchrotron X-ray diffraction
- Heat capacity of synthetic hydrous Mg-cordierite at low temperatures: Thermodynamic properties and the behavior of the H2O molecule in selected hydrous micro and nanoporous silicates
- Organic anions in layered double hydroxides: An experimental investigation of citrate hydrotalcite
- The 6H-SiC structure model: Further refinement from SCXRD data from a terrestrial moissanite
- Cobalt incorporation in mullite
- Thermal expansion between 480 and 940 °C of Cr-doped mullites derived from single-phase precursors
- Armbrusterite, K5Na6Mn3+Mn2+14[Si9O22]4(OH)10·4H2O, a new Mn hydrous heterophyllosilicate from the Khibiny alkaline massif, Kola Peninsula, Russia
- Letter. An empirical scaling model for averaging elastic properties including interfacial effects
- Letter. Optical absorption spectra of ferropericlase to 84 GPa
- Letter. The acoustic emissions signature of a pressure-induced polytypic transformation in chlorite
- Letter. A new high-pressure CaGe2O5 polymorph with 5- and 6-coordinated germanium
- Letter. Terrestrial analogs of martian jarosites: Major, minor element systematics and Na-K zoning in selected samples
