Application of Vegard’s law to mixed cation sodalites: a simple method for determining the stoichiometry

Vegard’s law describes the empirical relationship between the crystal lattice parameter of a mixture and its components. This relationship holds for some sodalites, in particular those containing mixtures of Li, K and Na as the charge balancing cations. By utilizing previously published lattice parameters for Li/Na and K/Na mixed cation chloride sodalites, linear curves were drawn allowing the composition of the mixed cation sodalites to be determined from their lattice parameters. Further, by mathematical addition of the curves for Li/Na and K/Na mixed cation chloride sodalites, a linear curve was developed and tested for the mixed tri-cation Li/Na/K chloride sodalites. This provides a simple way to monitor the composition of mixed cation sodalites and has an application in monitoring the composition of multi-phase materials where the sodalite phase cannot be easily separated for elemental analysis.