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A computational investigation of cation ordering phenomena in the binary spinel system MgAl2O4-FeAl2O4

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

E. J. Palin
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
R. J. Harrison*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK

Abstract

The systematics of cation ordering in binary spinel solid solutions have been investigated using an interatomic potential model combined with Monte Carlo simulations. The formalism to describe a system containing three cation species ordering over two non-equivalent sub-lattices is developed and the method applied to the MgAl2O4-FeAl2O4 binary solid solution. Our results compare favourably with experimental measurements of site-occupancy data, although the experiments display a slightly larger degree of non-ideality than the simulations. A possible kinetic origin of the non-ideal behaviour was examined by performing simulations in which only exchange of Mg and Fe2+ between tetrahedral and octahedral sites was permitted below the Al-blocking temperature of 1160 K. This approach improves the agreement with the experimental site occupancies, and suggests that the blocking temperature for moving Mg and Fe2+ between tetrahedral and octahedral sites is significantly lower than for moving Al

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2007

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