Thermal stability of fibrous zeolites and their cation exchanged forms has been investigated by means of high temperature X-ray powder diffraction and thermal analysis (TG-DTA). Heating natrolite and tetranatrolite, which carry only Na
+ as exchangeable cation, caused them to transform into dehydrated phases at 350-400°C, which were maintainedup to 600-750°C. In contrast, those with both Na
+and Ca
2+(mesolite, gonnardite, thomsonite) and those with only Ca
2+(scolecite) and only Ba
2+(edingtonite) as exchangeable cations were decomposed and transformed directly into amorphous phase at 400-450°C, with no intermediate stage of dehydrated phase. Replacement of Na
+of natural gonnardite by Ca
2+resulted in a remarkable decrease of thermalstability in terms of lowering of decomposition temperature, whereas the reverse was true when the original exchangeable cation (Ca
2+) of scolecite was substituted by Na
+. Replacement of the original exchangeable cations of natrolite, tetranatrolite, gonnardite and thomsonite by K
+lowered themperature of dehydration by 200-250°C, but heightened the temperature of decomposition by 250-550°C (natrolite and tetranatrolite) or even caused the appearance of dehydrated phase which did not form when the natural samples were heated (gonnardite, thomsonite). All the above results indicate that the observed differences of thermal stability is interpreted in terms of difference in the population of exchangeable cations in the zeolite structure: In the Na-and K-forms, the exchangeable cations should occupy all the available exchange sites, making the alumino-silicate framework rigid and resistant to thermal decomposition, whereas in the Ca-and Ba-forms the exchangeable cations fill up only one half of the exchange sites, leaving another half vacant and thus making the alumino-silicate chains susceptible to distortion and hence to thermal decomposition. Particularly high thermal stability of K-forms is ascribed to the residence site of K
+ions of large size and low ionic potential (charge over radius) by which the ions fit well the 8-membered oxygen rings of exchange sites, imparting the structural stability.
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