Abstract
Transient (non-equilibrium) microstructures in crystals may arise in an order-disorder phase transition that generates lattice strain. A two-phase field can develop if fluctuations of the order parameter lead to nucleation of an ordered phase in a disordered matrix, as we describe here for columbite. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy show that ordering in columbite involves two discrete phases with different degree of order but the same composition. A highly unusual distribution of ordered rhombic-shaped domains within a disordered matrix establishes on a nanometer scale and remains relatively stable over a prolonged period of annealing. Progressive ordering takes place within the ordered domains and the disordered matrix but the domains maintain more or less constant shape and distribution. We speculate that a new family of such microstructures could develop in other oxide phases with cation ordering transitions that are strongly first order in character. Long-term stability of such microstructures and their dependence on strain could open up the possibility of engineering the properties of crystals containing a percolating disordered matrix with ordered nanodomains of controlled dimensions
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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Articles in the same Issue
- Paulscherrerite from the Number 2 Workings, Mount Painter Inlier, Northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia: “Dehydrated schoepite” is a mineral after all
- Atomistic investigation of the pyrophyllitic substitution and implications on clay stability
- Application of the two-feldspar geothermometer to ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) rocks in the Khondalite belt, North China craton and its implications
- Wüstite in a hydrothermal silver-lead-zinc vein, Lucky Friday mine, Coeur d’Alene mining district, U.S.A.
- Gelosaite, BiMo6+(2–5x)Mo5+6xO7(OH)·H2O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4), a new mineral from Su Senargiu (CA), Sardinia, Italy, and a second occurrence from Kingsgate, New England, Australia
- Improved electron probe microanalysis of trace elements in quartz
- Ultra-high residual compressive stress (>2 GPa) in a very small volume (<1 μm3) of indented quartz
- Transmission electron microscopy investigation of Ag-free lillianite and heyrovskýite from Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy
- Combined inelastic neutron scattering and solid-state density functional theory study of dynamics of hydrogen atoms in muscovite 2M1
- Contact metamorphism of a Cretaceous accretionary prism by the 14 Ma Okueyama granite, a single post-kinematic pluton in Central Kyushu, Japan: SVD analysis of metamorphic reactions and thermal release
- Origin of crosscutting dissolution surfaces in magmatic plagioclase
- Néel transition in (Mg,Fe)O: A possible change of magnetic structure
- Extreme channelization of fluid and the problem of element mobility during Barrovian metamorphism
- The high-temperature P21/m → C2/m phase transitions in synthetic amphiboles along the richterite–(BMg)–richterite join
- The crystal structure of barite, BaSO4, at high pressure
- Thermal decomposition of brushite, CaHPO4·2H2O to monetite CaHPO4 and the formation of an amorphous phase
- Rhombic-shaped nanodomains in columbite driven by contrasting cation order
- High-pressure structural evolution and equation of state of analbite
- In-situ dehydration studies of fully K-, Rb-, and Cs-exchanged natrolites
- The crystal structures and Raman spectra of aravaipaite and calcioaravaipaite
- Temperature dependence of the Fe2+ Mössbauer parameters in triphylite (LiFePO4)
- Synthesis and characterization of françoisite-(Nd): Nd[(UO2)3O(OH)(PO4)2]·6H2O
- Fluorphosphohedyphane, Ca2Pb3(PO4)3F, the first apatite supergroup mineral with essential Pb and F
- A new mineral with an olivine structure and pyroxene composition in the shock-induced melt veins of Tenham L6 chondrite
- The WURM project—a freely available web-based repository of computed physical data for minerals
- Acid production by FeSO4·nH2O dissolution: Comment
- Letter. Crystal chemistry of sodium in the Earth’s interior: The structure of Na2MgSi5O12 synthesized at 17.5 GPa and 1700 °C
- Letter. In-situ infrared spectra of OH in olivine to 1100°C