Some Aspects of Spinodal Decomposition in Spinel Solid Solutions

Decomposition morphologies of supersaturated spinel solid solutions in the quasi-binary system Co TiO -CoAl at 973 K show all pertinent features of spinodal decomposition. Since the decomposition morphology may not be considered as sufficient evidence for a spinodal process, the thermodynamics of the spinel solid solutions and the linear transport theory of spinodal decomposition were combined to corroborate the experimental results of the early decomposition reaction. Simultaneous ordering, a common property of ternary and higher nonequilibrium solid solutions, was also observed. These ordering processes occur locally in distinct regions of the spinel crystal. Moreover, the spinodal wavelength λ increases in time according to λ ∞ t, which is unusual and will be discussed in the light of cation diffusion in semiconducting oxides with two cation sublattices.