Structure-property relations and thermodynamic properties of monoclinic petalite, LiAlSi4O10

Structure-property relations of monoclinic petalite, LiAlSi(4)O(10), were determined by experiment and atomistic modeling based on density functional theory. The elastic stiffness coefficients were measured between room temperature and 570 K using a combination of the plate-resonance technique and resonant ultrasound spectroscopy. The thermal expansion was studied between 100 and 740 K by means of dilatometry. The heat capacity between 2 and 398 K has been obtained by microcalorimetry using a quasi-adiabatic calorimeter. The experimentally determined elastic stiffness coefficients were employed to benchmark the results of density functional theory based model calculations. The values in the two data sets agreed to within a few GPa and the anisotropy was very well reproduced. The atomistic model was then employed to predict electric field gradients, the lattice dynamics and thermodynamic properties. The theoretical charge density was analyzed to investigate the bonding between atoms.