Strain modulation around inclusions in an annealed natural cordierite

A natural ferromagnesian cordierite which had been annealed at 1355°C has been found, by TEM, to contain submicroscopic cross hatched modulated microstructures (tweed) localised near Al2O3 inclusions, while most of the sample, apart from some melting features, remained homogeneous and orthorhombic in symmetry. SAED patterns from regions with the tweed textures exhibited splitting parallel to [3-10]* and [110]* of the orthorhombic cell. Such features in cordierite have been interpreted in previous investigations as intermediate metastable states formed during the high-to-low transition associated with Al,Si ordering. Such metastable states appear to be favoured in K-bearing cordierites because the substitution Si4+ + []channel → K+ + Al3+, which increases the number of the Al-O-Al bonds, hinders the development of long range Al,Si ordering and the high-to-low transition. In the present cordierite studied here, the mechanism of modulated structure formation is most probably similar but the chemical exchange involved is different and of the type R2+ + Si4+→ 2Al3+ (where R2+ is an octahedral cation). This entails the presence of some Al in octahedral coordination. It is suggested that octahedral Al would stabilise the hexagonal form of cordierite