Self-Diffusion of the Constituent Elements in Alpha-Alumina, Mullite and Aluminosilicate Glasses

Aluminium is a key element in geological and man-made materials which has only one stable isotope and no radionuclides with half-life times suitable for standard experimental diffusion studies. Here we report on our method using the radioisotope 26Al (t1/2 = 7.4×105 a) as a quasi-stable tracer for aluminium in combination with SIMS depth profiling. First, our data for the aluminium bulk diffusivity in a-alumina are discussed jointly with published oxygen bulk diffusion coefficients. They clearly show that the relation DAl>>D0 is valid in the temperature range 1200 °C ≤ T ≤ 1800 °C. In an analogous manner, the two rare stable isotopes 18O and 30Si are used together with 26Al in diffusion studies of generic examples of materials which either consist of aluminium, silicon and oxygen only, or where these three elements are key constituents of the structure. For the crystalline aluminium silicate mullite our diffusivity data for aluminium, oxygen and silicon are used to explain the kinetics of the solid state formation reaction of mullite and the segregation kinetics of alumina from mullite. Finally, the diffusivities of oxygen and aluminium in model aluminosilicate glasses are presented as a function of temperature for different Al3+/Na+ ratios. For the aluminium silicate mullite and for the aluminosilicate glasses the relation D0>DAl>DSi is valid regardless of the exact composition. For the glass system the activation enthalpies of aluminium and oxygen diffusion decrease with decreasing Al3+/Na+ ratio.