Study of barium feldspar polymorphism as a function of temperature and calcium content

A family of new glass-ceramic materials, of the general formula (25-x)CaO.xBaO.yMgO.zAl2O3.50SiO2, where x = 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, y = 20 or 14 and z = 5 or 11 (mol%) have been prepared by melting the raw materials of the two parent glasses followed by heat treatment. The systematic substitution of BaO for CaO in the base glasses allows the effect of the feldspars' isomorphism and polymorphism to be studied in a series of glass-ceramics where the structural environment around the bivalent cations, Ca2+ and Ba2+, is systematically altered. Ba2+ has a large effect on the glass transition temperature and dilatometric softening point, causing a decrease with increasing BaO. The crystalline phases have been identified and found to be dependent on the preparation conditions, which are the BaO and Al2O3 contents, the heating rate and the soaking temperature adopted for the crystallisation treatments. The IR spectroscopy technique helped to identify the different polymorphs of barium feldspar, that were not clearly distinguishable by X-ray powder diffractometry due to preferred orientations. The kinetic parameters for the formation of the different crystals have also been determined and correlated with their thermal stability. 18 refs.