Annealing of radiation damage in allanite and gadolinite

Samples of allanite and gadolinite with a range of alpha-recoil damage 0.1 to 3.0 dpa, were annealed in Ar and analysed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), infrared (IR) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Samples that were fully metamict, and also amorphous regions of partially metamict samples, annealed according to the Ostwald step rule. After annealing, X-ray crystalline material still showed significantly damaged regions under transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Hydrothermal annealing of fully metamict gadolinite at 710° C and PH₂O=2.3 kbar resulted in direct recrystallization. Direct recrystallization, by heterogeneous nucleation, occurred also in samples with significant amount of relict crystalline material. Of two exotherms observed on DTA curves for fully metamict gadolinite only one, at 840° C, resulted from recrystallization. The second exotherm at 895° C was related to the transformation of a transitional, high-temperature γ-phase into gadolinite. The activation energy of recrystallization of partially metamict gadolinite is 0.58 eV. The same annealing path for fully metamict gadolinite and for the amorphous component of partially metamict allanite is consistent with the model of an aperiodic random network structure of metamict minerals.