Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2011
Phase composition of the murataite-based ceramics containing 10 wt.% lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, europium, gadolinium, yttrium, zirconium oxides was studied. The ceramics were prepared by melting of oxide mixtures in glass-carbon ampoules in air at ∼1500° C. They are composed of predominant murataite-type phases and minor extra phases: rutile, crichtonite, perovskite, ilmenite/pyrophanite, and zirconolite (in the Zr-bearing sample only). Three murataite-related phases with five- (5C), eight- (8C), and three-fold (3C) elementary fluorite unit cell are normally present in all the ceramics. These phases form core, intermediate zone, and rim of the murataite grains, respectively. They are predominant host phases for the rare earth elements whose concentrations are reduced in a row: M-5C>M-8C>M-3C. Appreciate fraction of La and Ce may enter the perovskite phase.