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Developments in Ceramic Materials Research

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Coloured ZrSiO4 <strong>Ceramic</strong> Pigments 267<br />

Figure 3. Zircon-phase mass per cent as a function of the metal/Zr content of pigments calc<strong>in</strong>ed at<br />

1200°C. Inset: photographs of the pigment colours.<br />

In the case of vanadium the amount of zircon phase ranges <strong>in</strong> any case around 90% and<br />

shows very little dependence on the metal load<strong>in</strong>g. Fe-promoted samples show an average<br />

amount of zircon around 50% with a small maximum for Fe/Zr around 0.02. Samples<br />

promoted by Pr show, <strong>in</strong>stead, a different trend. The amount of zircon <strong>in</strong> the samples first<br />

rises sharply and goes through a maximum (up to about 40%) for Pr/Zr around 0.03 and<br />

subsequently it levels off to low values (around 6%). The trend of the Pr- doped samples<br />

might suggest that up to Pr/Zr around 0.03, the guest metal might be present <strong>in</strong> a solid<br />

solution with<strong>in</strong> the t-ZrO2 lattice favour<strong>in</strong>g nucleation and growth of the zircon structure. The<br />

0.03 molar ratio might represent a solubility limit for the solid solution; larger Pr quantities<br />

might support the formation of different crystall<strong>in</strong>e Pr conta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g phases (e.g. the phase<br />

Pr2Zr2O7 appreciable <strong>in</strong>to the 5, 8, 10% sample diffractograms) thus reduc<strong>in</strong>g the nucleat<strong>in</strong>g<br />

power of the metal.<br />

The largely different effects produced by the three metal ions, on the structural features<br />

of ZrSiO4, are not easily <strong>in</strong>terpreted s<strong>in</strong>ce the function of the guest ion is manifold, complex<br />

and not fully clarified. However, s<strong>in</strong>ce, the metal cations are generally assumed to form a<br />

solid solution with the zircon lattice occupy<strong>in</strong>g either the tetrahedral silicon sites or the<br />

dodecahedral Zr positions, or even both, the match<strong>in</strong>g of the sizes, between the guest metal<br />

ion and the ions <strong>in</strong> the lattice, is not a trivial fact. The size of a tetrahedral Si 4+ is reported to<br />

be 0.40-0.54 Å, that of Zr 4+ <strong>in</strong> the dodecahedral site 0.84-0.98 Å. The radius of V with a<br />

number of coord<strong>in</strong>ation 6 is 0.59 Å. Literature data show that upon dop<strong>in</strong>g with V, the unit<br />

cell volume of ZrSiO4 expands [24]. This effect is <strong>in</strong>terpreted as the result of substitut<strong>in</strong>g a<br />

larger ion (V 4+ ) for a smaller one (Si) <strong>in</strong> the lattice tetrahedral positions. The sizes of Fe and<br />

Pr are 0.645 and 1.013 Å respectively. It appears therefore that <strong>in</strong> the series V-Fe-Pr the size

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