High- and low-temperature X-ray diffraction studies of aluminate spinels in the CoAl2O4–NiAl2O4 system

Co x Ni 1– x Al 2 O 4 ( x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) aluminate spinels have been prepared by solid-state reactions and their crystal structures have been refined by the Rietveld method. We have analyzed whether the results are consistent with theoretical relationships stemming from the hard sphere model. Using high- and low-temperature X-ray diffraction measurements, we have obtained the temperature dependences of the unit-cell parameters for the synthesized compounds and determined their thermal expansion coefficients. The rate of cation exchange reactions has been shown to be very slow at temperatures below 200°C.