Abstract
The development of water bubbles in synthetic quartz has been monitored by measurements of (i) the intensity of the light scattered and (ii) the increase in volume of the crystal, both as a function of temperature and time. These macroscopic measurements have been complemented by observations of the resulting microstructures, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A mechanism is proposed on the assumption that hydrogen is incorporated in the quartz structure by means of (4 H)Si defects. On heating, these defects diffuse and clusters develop. A cluster of n(4 H)Si produces a water bubble of (n−1)H2O, without any change of volume of the crystal. At any temperature T there is a critical bubble diameter above which the “steam” pressure P exceeds the pressure p for a spherical bubble in mechanical equilibrium. If P becomes greater than p, then the bubble increases in volume until P=p, the increase in volume being achieved by the pipe diffusion of Si and O away from the bubble site into a linked edge dislocation loop. This process produces the observed increase in volume of the crystal. The two diffusion processes take place virtually simultaneously and continue until all the (4 H)Si defects have been trapped in the bubbles. Values of the diffusion constant and the activation energy for the diffusion of the (4 H)Si defects are deduced. The relevance of these observations to the hydrolytic weakening of quartz is briefly discussed.
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McLaren, A.C., Cook, R.F., Hyde, S.T. et al. The mechanisms of the formation and growth of water bubbles and associated dislocation loops in synthetic quartz. Phys Chem Minerals 9, 79–94 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308151
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00308151