Microstructure characterization of one-directionally oriented ulexite

Abstract

Microstructures of ulexite were investigated by CTEM and low electron dose HREM. It was found that the longitudinal grains in ulexite were oriented to c-direction to form a bundle structure. There were a number of small-angle grain boundaries and stacking faults inside a grain in the ulexite. Cleavage microcracks and stacking faults were mostly introduced on the {010} of the ulexite. The high-angle grain boundaries mainly consisted of high coincidence boundaries, which was confirmed by a comparison of observed contact angles and calculated degree of coincidence at the boundaries. The light transmittance properties of the ulexite would depend on the defects such as stacking fault, small-angle grain boundary, and high-angle grain boundary.