Abstract
Under open-system hydrothermal conditions, the observed growth habit for mullite composites is columnar. Based on theoretic calculations, performed with the Cambridge serial total energy package, of mullite crystal surface energies for facets (001), (210), (110), and (120), we analyze and discuss the relationship between growth rate and growth habit. Following the above facet order, these surface energies are 0.337, 0.022, 0.217, and 0.039 keV nm-2. According to the Curie-Woolf principle, growth rates would follow the sequence (001)>(110)>(120)>(210). Thus mullite crystals would favor theoretically a c -axis columnar growth habit. This result supports in this instance growth rate determinations based on theoretic calculations of surface energies.
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