Probe Software Users Forum

General EPMA => EPMA (and SEM) Standard Materials => Topic started by: JohnF on January 02, 2015, 03:30:27 PM

Title: Spinel standards
Post by: JohnF on January 02, 2015, 03:30:27 PM
I am looking for a spinel (MgAl2O4) epma standard. Anyone have something to share?
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: Probeman on January 02, 2015, 04:24:19 PM
Quote from: JohnF on January 02, 2015, 03:30:27 PM
I am looking for a spinel (MgAl2O4) epma standard. Anyone have something to share?

Hi John,
I have a lot of this wollastonite:

http://smf.probesoftware.com/index.php?topic=222.msg997#msg997

Good for major silicon and aluminum.
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: JohnF on January 04, 2015, 03:25:09 PM
I think you meant Si and Ca (no Al in wollastonite, CaSiO3)
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: John Donovan on January 04, 2015, 03:46:50 PM
Quote from: JohnF on January 04, 2015, 03:25:09 PM
I think you meant Si and Ca (no Al in wollastonite, CaSiO3)

Yes, sorry. I ain't no darn geologist!

But that does remind me: I'd love to find a super pure end member aluminum silicate, such as sillimanite.
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: Gseward on March 04, 2015, 11:32:55 PM
JohnF and I discussed this off-line. We discovered this:

http://www.mtixtl.com/mgal2o4spinel.aspx
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: Jeremy Wykes on March 04, 2015, 11:59:10 PM
A heads up on synthetic Mg-Al spinel: If I remember correctly, Hugh O'Neill suggests that synthetic MgAl2O4 he has examined in the past has considerable non-stoichiometry.
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: Gseward on March 05, 2015, 12:46:27 PM
Thanks for the warning. I guess heterogeneity is worse!
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: Probeman on March 05, 2015, 01:41:31 PM
Quote from: Jeremy Wykes on March 04, 2015, 11:59:10 PM
A heads up on synthetic Mg-Al spinel: If I remember correctly, Hugh O'Neill suggests that synthetic MgAl2O4 he has examined in the past has considerable non-stoichiometry.

Would that be true even for single crystal material?  I believe Sean Mulcahy (UB Berkekey) has single crystal Mg-Al spinel from when I bought it years ago.  Worth testing I guess.
Title: Re: Spinel standards
Post by: AndrewLocock on March 25, 2015, 04:25:38 PM
We purchased a large polished single-crystal wafer (substrate for crystal growth) of MgAl2O4 spinel from MTI some time ago. My recollection is that examined the cell dimension by powder XRD of an aliquot, and found it to be in excellent agreement with ideal MgAl2O4. From this, we assumed the composition was stoichiometric.