Thermal expansion of gehlenite, Ca2Al[AlSiO7], and the related aluminates LnCaAl[Al2O7] with Ln = Tb, Sm

Abstract

The thermal expansion of gehlenite, Ca2Al[AlSiO7], (up to T=830 K), TbCaAl[Al2O7] (up to T=1,100 K) and SmCaAl[Al2O7] (up to T=1,024 K) has been determined. All compounds are of the melilite structure type with space group \(P\bar {4}2_1\,m.\) Thermal expansion data was obtained from in situ X-ray powder diffraction experiments in-house and at HASYLAB at the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg (Germany). The thermal expansion coefficients for gehlenite were found to be: α1=7.2(4)×10−6 K−1+3.6(7)×10−9ΔT K−2 and α3=15.0(1)×10−6 K−1. For TbCaAl[Al2O7] the respective values are: α1=7.0(2)×10−6 K−1+2.0(2)×10−9ΔT K−2 and α3=8.5(2)×10−6 K−1+2.0(3)×10−9ΔT K−2, and the thermal expansion coefficients for SmCaAl[Al2O7] are: α1=6.9(2)× 10−6 K−1+1.7(2)×10−9ΔT K−2 and α3=9.344(5)×10−6 K−1. The expansion-mechanisms of the three compounds are explained in terms of structural trends obtained from Rietveld refinements of the crystal structures of the compounds against the powder diffraction patterns. No structural phase transitions have been observed. While gehlenite behaves like a ’proper’ layer structure, the aluminates show increased framework structure behaviour. This is most probably explained by stronger coulombic interactions between the tetrahedral conformation and the layer-bridging cations due to the coupled substitution (Ca2++Si4+)-(Ln3++Al3+) in the melilite-type structure.