Monoclinic-orthorhombic first-order phase transition in K<inf>2</inf>ZnSi<inf>5</inf>O<inf>12</inf>leucite analogue; Transition mechanism and spontaneous strain analysis

Hydrothermally synthesised K2ZnSi5O12 has a polymerized framework structure with the same topology as leucite (KAlSi2O6, tetragonal I41/a), which has two tetrahedrally coordinated Al3+ cations replaced by Zn2+ and Si4+. At 293K it has a cation-ordered framework P21/c monoclinic structure with lattice parameters a = 13.1773(2)A, b = 13.6106(2) A, c = 13.0248(2)A, = 91.6981(9). This structure is isostructural with K2MgSi5O12, the first cation-ordered leucite analogue characterised. With increasing temperature, the P21/c structure transforms reversibly to cation-ordered framework orthorhombic Pbca. This transition takes place over the temperature range 848-863K where both phases coexist; there is an 1.2% increase in unit cell volume between 843K (P21/c) and 868K (Pbca), characteristic of a first-order, displacive, ferroelastic phase transition. Spontaneous strain analysis defines the symmetry- and non-symmetry related changes and shows that the mechanism is weakly first order; the two-phase region is consistent with the mechanism being a strain-related martensitic transition.