Precipitation of iron zirconate from Zr4+-oversaturated Fe2O3−x (I)

The ZrO2 and α-Fe2O3 powders were sintered at 1200°C and then aged at 850°C for 4–600 h in air to study the precipitation of iron zirconate from α-Fe2O3 oversaturated with Zr4+ by analytical electron microscopy. The Guinier-Preston (G.P.) zone formed within 100 h and then disk-like precipitate variants of iron zirconate (Fe/Zr∼1:1 in atomic ratio) were found to nucleate on the habit plane {101̄4} of the hematite matrix after 300 h. The iron zirconate probably possesses monoclinic crystallographic symmetry according to electron diffraction and the shape characteristics.