Striations in the KCl single crystals grown from aqueous solutions

Growth striations were always observed on the etched surfaces of KCl crystals grown from aqueous solutions doped with Pb. However, the origin of the striations is not known in the case of aqueous solution growth. In this work, it was studied how the width and period among the striations were influenced by the growth rate and concentration of the dopant Pb. The crystals were grown from the aqueous solutions doped with Pb (1/4000-1/1250 in molar fraction) by an evaporation method at pH = 2.0. The average growth rates were changed from 24 to 115 mum/day by controlling the evaporation rate. It was found that both the width and period among the striations decreased with an increase of the average growth rate. However, the effects of the concentration of dopant Pb upon the width and period among the striations were not found within the concentration range examined. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.