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Discontinuous precipitation reaction in the metal of Richardton chondrite

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Abstract

A metallographic and microprobe study was conducted on the H5 chondritic meteorite Richardton, using material that was free of terrestrial corrosion and ablation heating effects. Our observations indicate that initially well annealed and slowly cooled metal experienced an incomplete episode of discontinuous precipitation in the temperature range 350–400 °C, perhaps after mild deformation at some of the metal-silicate interfaces. There were no indications of externally imposed deformation after the 350 °C episode. The mechanism of discontinuous precipitation rather than plane interface growth has implications for the rate of formation of the metallographic structures, and the apparent temperature of this final heat treatment has implications for proposed reheating events identified by isotopic measurements of the silicate minerals that accompany the metal in this meteorite.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metallurgy Department, University of Manchester, Grosvenor Street, Manchester, M1 7HS, UK

    H. J. Axon & V. J. Grokhovsky

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  1. H. J. Axon
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  2. V. J. Grokhovsky
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Axon, H., Grokhovsky, V. Discontinuous precipitation reaction in the metal of Richardton chondrite. Nature 296, 835–837 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296835a0

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