LITHIUM ALUMINUM SILICATE

Chemical properties

white powder(s); used in ceramic flux formulations, as a solid electrolyte, and in heat sinks for solar and nuclear applications [FMC93] [STR93]

Chemical properties

The mineral spodumene is a lithium aluminum silicate corresponding to the formula LiAlSi2O6 and occurs in monoclinic prismatic crystals, occasionally of very large size. It also occurs massive. Spodumene has a perfect prismatic cleavage often very noticeable; uneven to splintery fracture; brittle; hardness, 6.5 7.5; specific gravity, 3 3.2; luster, vitreous to dull; color, grayish- to greenish-white, green, yellow and purple. Its streak is white; it is transparent to translucent.

Origin of Name

The name spodumene is derived from the Greek meaning ash-colored, particularly appropriate for the slightly weathered varieties. Hiddenite, the beautiful emerald-green or yellow-green spodumene that is used as a gem,was named for W.E. Hidden. Kunzite, named in honor of George F. Kunz.

Occurrence

Spodumene is characteristically a mineral of the pegmatites, and it is found in Sweden, Ireland, Madagascar and Brazil. In the United States it is found especially in the pegmatites of Oxford County, Maine; in the towns of Goshen, Huntington and Chesterfield in western Massachusetts; at Branchville, Connecticut; in North Carolina; in South Dakota in huge crystals and in San Diego and Riverside Counties in California.