The thermal transition of leucite was studied. The specimens were from Nyiragongo, the Congo and from Vesuvius, Italy, and X-ray powder and single crystal diffraction experiments were carried out from room temperature up to 800°C. At room temperature, the crystal, single and cubic in appearance, is composed of six sheet-like domains, each parallel to one of {101} of the outward cubic morphology and consisting of a polysynthetic twin of the low-temperature tetragonal form. The twin operation is a two-fold rotation about ?? 101 ?? of the tetragonal individual, whose direction is almost parallel to one of >101< of the cubic form. From the results of observations of the powder patterns and precession diagrams at elevated temperatures, it was concluded that the crystal originally grown cubic at a high temperature has been transformed between 660°C and 665°C into such a domain structure as mentioned above, each domain being a polysynthetic twin of a tetragonal form with both axes equal in length to that of the high-temperature cubic form. As the fall of temperature, the low form begins revealing its tetragonality, and the defference between the
a- and
c-lengths gradually and continuously increases. The texture of the mineral observed at room temperature is attained in this way. Since no evidence has been obtained of an abrupt change at its transition temperature, the transition is believed to be classified as essentially of the second order type.
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