Aqueous sol-gel synthesis of spodumene and eucryptite powders

Fine β-spodumene and eucryptite powders of high purity were synthesised by aqueous sol-gel processing starting from aqueous solutions of lithium formate, aluminium formate, zirconium formate, and tetraethoxysilane. The gels were dried and calcined at different temperatures ranging from 500 to 800°C and the resulting materials characterised by X-ray powder diffraction, infrared spectroscopic anlysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential thermal analysis.