Preliminary study on the growth mechanism of zircon whiskers prepared via non-hydrolytic sol-gel method combined with carbon black as reducing agent

Abstract

Zircon whiskers were prepared at 700 °C via non-hydrolytic sol-gel method combined with carbon black as reducing agent, Si(OC2H5)4 (TEOS) and ZrCl4 as precursors and LiF as mineralizer. The whiskers were characterized and their growth mechanism was discussed. The results show that the introduction of carbon black is beneficial for the preferential axial growth of zircon crystals into whiskers. The diameter and aspect ratio of zircon whiskers are 30–40 nm and 6–15, respectively. The zircon whiskers grow along the [001] direction, which is c-axis oriented. The growth mechanism is revealed to be the screw dislocation mechanism with the mass transport mainly from the zircon crystal particle matrix.

Keywords

• non-hydrolytic sol-gel process
• whiskers
• zircon
• growth mechanism