[meteorite-list] Lovina

[abudka at nycap.rr.com]

Lovina is full of beautiful iron-nickel DENDRITES!  A “dendrite indicates a linear, branched structure of which the arms are all parallel to specific crystallographic directions” (1).  AND, dendritic morphology (of which there are various kinds) always indicates non-equilibrium solidification.  Furthermore, if Lovina IS a meteorite, throw in the concept that Lovina must have solidified under different gravitational conditions than the 1g we know on earth (perhaps microgravity?).

While unusual – but not unknown in the meteoritics world, such structures are familiar to casting metallurgists.  Iron dendrites found in pockets and veins in the Yanzhuang H6 meteorite are characterized in papers by Li Z. et al. (2) and Brooks et Al. (3).

A though experiment: Thicken Lovina’s dendritic branches, give it more melt liquid and more time to grow in low gravity – and what do you have?  The Widmanstätten structure!

An alternate interpretation of the meteoritic Widmanstätten structure as a primary crystallization, 3-dimensional dendritic structure solidified under non-equilibrium microgravity conditions is found at my website,

http://meteormetals.com/

For background on the circular reasoning behind how meteoritic Widmanstätten morphology became the Widmanstätten mechanism, click Learn More at my website.


Phyllis Budka
abudka at nycap.rr.com

References:
1. Chalmers, Bruce, “Principles of Solidification Processing,” 1977 edition, p. 92.
2. Li Z., Xie X., and Zhang D. Meteoritics 27, 249.
3. Brooks, C., Biery, N., Li Z., Xie X., and Zhang D., Materials Characterization 35:165-174 (1995).