Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.93, No.2, 353-355, 2010
Morphology of alpha'(H)-Ca2SiO4 Solid Solution Crystals
Single crystals of alpha'(L)-(Sr0.3Ca1.7)SiO4 with well-developed smooth faces were grown by heating at 1473 K in a SrCl2 flux. A euhedral prismatic crystal similar to 200 mu m x similar to 300 mu m x similar to 1000 mu m in size was selected and examined by the combined use of the precession method and scanning electron microscope. Because the crystal developed within the stable temperature region of the alpha'(H)-phase, the faces were successfully identified as {111}, {011}, and {021} on the basis of the former alpha'(H)-phase lattice. The faces {011} and {021} constitute a zone with the zone axis [100], which was parallel to the elongation direction of the crystal. A similar morphology was confirmed for the belite crystals in a belite-gehlenite clinker, which were crystallized out of a melt within the stable temperature region of the alpha'(H)-phase.