ABSTRACTA series of K(Ta1-x Nbx)O3 solid-solution samples were prepared by direct reaction of oxides and carbonates, a homogeneous sol-gel process, and an inhomogeneous sol-gel process. The inhomogeneous sol-gel samples were prepared by the prehydrolysis of separate KTaO3 and KNbO3 precursor solutions followed by mixing of the resulting sols, drying and calcination. An examination of these samples by EXAFS at the Ta LIII and Nb K-edges, i) illustrated the difficulty of obtaining homogeneous solid solutions via direct reaction of oxides/carbonates, and ii) showed that the homogeneity of a solid-solution could be controlled by varying the hydrolysis procedure used during its sol-gel synthesis.
Thermo-compression of pyrope-grossular garnet solid solutions: Non-linear compositional dependence