Size distribution of huntite-borate crystals grown by spontaneous crystallization from flux

Abstract

Rare-earth huntite-borates R(Al, Ga)3(BO3)4, where R = Yb, Er, and/or Nd, were grown by spontaneous crystallization from fluxes based on Bi2O3-B2O3. Crystals were removed from the melts and selected to different size fractions using meshes. It was found that dependence of weight for each size fraction on size in double logarithm coordinates was close to a symmetrical function. The dependence of logarithm of crystal amount on size was almost linear.