Thermal expansion and dehydroxylation of phengite micas

Phengite samples (2M 1 and 3T politypes) and a synthetic end-member muscovite specimen were studied by in situ high-temperature synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction. The measured volume thermal expansion of 2M 1 phengite (<α V> ≈ 36.6 × 10−6 K−1) was systematically greater than <α V> of the 3T polytype (≈33.3 × 10−6 K−1). A positive linear correlation between the average thermal expansion on (001) plane and the mean tetrahedral rotation angle at ambient condition is proposed on the ground of new measurements and literature data. Dehydroxylation processes were observed in 2M 1, starting at 1,000 K in 3T at 800 and 945 K in synthetic muscovite. Rietveld refinements allowed a determination of structural variations upon heating of phengite samples and their dehydroxylate phases. The phengite structure expands by regularizing the tetrahedral sheet and by reducing the bond length differences between the outer and inner coordination shell of the interlayer site. The dehydroxylate phase derived from 2M 1 is characterized by fivefold polyhedra in the low temperature form as a consequence of two OH groups reacting to form H2O + O (residual). The dehydroxylate exhibits an increase of the cation–cation distances along the M–Or–M bonds with respect to low-temperature phengite structures. For the 3T phase, we were unable to achieve completion of dehydroxylation. The refined structural model of the dehydroxylate phase shows two hydroxyl sites, but at a short distance from one another. This result suggests that the dehydroxylation reaction did not proceed to completion.