By the application of the Fourier-analysis followed in the HOUSKA and WARREN'mS ethod, it was confirmed that the line broadening of
OOl reflections for sericite was not only due to a small particle-size effect, but also to crystal defects involving variable interlayer spacings.
The average quantity of distortion (
Z1) ranged from 10
-3 to 10
-2 for four samples studied here. The maximum distortion
Z1 was estimated to be 0.021 which would give an extremely distorted interlayer spacing of 10.239Å in comparison with the spacing 10.008Å of muscovite. Probable factors producing the distortion were interpreted in terms of the local charge distribution and the heterogeneity of tetrahedral Al distribution.
It was hoped that further studies along these lines may lead to empirical relations between distortion and other functions such as chemical structure.
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