Sol-gel-prepared pure and lithium-doped hexacelsian polymorphs: An infrared, Raman, and thermal expansion study of the beta-phase stabilization by frozen short-range disorder
P. Colomban et al., Sol-gel-prepared pure and lithium-doped hexacelsian polymorphs: An infrared, Raman, and thermal expansion study of the beta-phase stabilization by frozen short-range disorder, J AM CERAM, 83(12), 2000, pp. 2974-2982
Monoclinic and hexagonal forms of celsians (BaAl2Si2O8) were synthesized by
hydrolysis-polycondensation of Si/Al alkoxide mixtures. Dilatometry, Raman
scattering, IR absorption, and X-ray diffraction techniques were used to i
dentify various hexacelsian phases and their conversion into the monoclinic
phase as a function of thermal treatments and doping, Emphasis is given to
the relationship between the shrinkage behavior and the static and dynamic
short-range disorders in the XO4 tetrahedra (X = Si/Al) arrangement. The c
w hexagonal phase exhibits a well-defined alpha-beta (HT) transition at abo
ut 300 degreesC but a "statically disordered" beta (SD) form, which does no
t vary very much with temperature and is very similar to the beta (HT) form
obtained below 300 degreesC for some materials. This statically disordered
phase is preferentially observed for fast-sintered lithium-free compositio
ns and transforms gradually in the ordered form by annealing above 1100 deg
reesC, Such stabilization of the high-temperature phase by the static disor
der arising from the peculiar synthesis through alkoxide hydrolysis and the
gel route, which freeze the dynamic disorder of gel-forming entities in a
static disorder at the gelation step, is discussed in the light of previous
ly observed cases. The thermal expansion behavior is very sensitive to the
synthesis conditions, doping, and thermal treatments. The ordered a phase i
s more easily achieved with lithium-doped compositions, but lithium additio
n shifts the hexagonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation onset toward lowe
r temperatures and promotes complete transformation with thermal annealing.