Phase transformations in calcite from electrical impedance measurements

The phase transformation in calcite I-IV-V and calcite ? aragonite have been characterized by electrical impedance measurements at temperatures 600–1200°C and pressures 0.5–2.5?GPa in a piston cylinder apparatus. The bulk conductivity σ has been measured from Argand plots in the frequency range 10⁵–10^?2?Hz in an electric cell representing a coaxial cylindrical capacitor. The synthetic polycrystalline powder of CaCO₃ and natural crystals of calcite were used as starting materials. The transformation temperature T_c was identified from resistivity-temperature curves as a kink point of the activation energy. At pressure above 2?GPa in ordered phase calcite I, the activation energy E _σ is c. 1.05?eV, and in disordered phase calcite V E _σ is c. 0.75?eV. The pressure dependence of T_c for the rotational order–disorder transformation in calcite is positive for pressures <1?GPa and negative for pressures >1?GPa. The transformation boundary of calcite 1–IV is observed only during first heating in samples after a long annealing at low temperatures. The activation energy of calcite I???IV decreases gradually from 1.8 to 1.05?eV with the pressure increase from 0.5 to 2?GPa. The kinetics of calcite ? aragonite transformation has been monitored by measuring a time-variation of the electrical resistance of a calcite sample at 10³?Hz in the stability P-T field of aragonite. The variation of the impedance correlates with the degree of phase transformation, estimated from X-ray powder diffraction studies on quenched products of experiments. The kinetics of calcite ? aragonite transformation may be fitted to the Avrami kinetics with the exponent m???1–1.5.