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The stability of hercynite at high pressures and temperatures

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Abstract

The stability of hercynite (FeAl2O4) has been investigated experimentally between 7 and 24 GPa and 900 and 1,700°C. Hercynite breaks down to its constituent oxides at 7–8.5 GPa and temperatures >1,000°C. The incorporation of a small magnetite component in the hercynite necessitated a small correction to fix the location of the endmember reaction: FeAl2O4  = Al2O3 + FeO in P–T space. After making this correction, the position of the phase boundary was used to evaluate thermodynamic data for hercynite. Our results support a relatively large S °298 for hercynite, on the order of 115 J mol−1 K−1. Experiments up to 24 GPa and 1,400°C failed to detect any high-pressure polymorph of FeAl2O4; only corundum + wüstite were detected. This behaviour contrasts with that observed for the analogous MgAl2O4 system where the constituent oxides recombine at high pressure to produce “post-spinel” phases with CaFe2O4-type and CaTi2O4-type structures.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft as part of the Schwerpunktprogramm #1236 “Structures and properties of crystals at extreme pressures and temperatures”. T. Boffa Ballaran is thanked for helping with the X-ray diffraction measurements. Reviews by D. Andrault and an anonymous reviewer improved the manuscript and are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Frankfurt, Altenhöferallee 1, 60438, Frankfurt, Germany

    Klaus Schollenbruch & Alan B. Woodland

  2. Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Universität Bayreuth, 94550, Bayreuth, Germany

    Daniel J. Frost

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  1. Klaus Schollenbruch
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  2. Alan B. Woodland
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  3. Daniel J. Frost
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Correspondence to Klaus Schollenbruch.

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Schollenbruch, K., Woodland, A.B. & Frost, D.J. The stability of hercynite at high pressures and temperatures. Phys Chem Minerals 37, 137–143 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-009-0317-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-009-0317-z

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