Heat capacity and thermodynamic properties of andradite garnet, Ca₃Fe₂Si₃O₁₂, between 10 and 1000 K and revised values for ΔfGom (298.15 K) of hedenbergite and wollastonite

The heat capacity of synthetic andradite garnet (Ca₃Fe₂Si₃O₁₂) was measured between 9.6 and 365.5 K by cryogenic adiabatic calorimetry and from 340 to 990 K by differential scanning calorimetry. At 298.15 KC^o_p,m and S^o_m are 351.9 ± 0.7 and 316.4 ± 2.0 J/(mol·K), respectively.

Andradite has a λ-peak in C^o_p,m with a maximum at 11.7 ± 0.2 K which is presumably associated with the antiferromagnetic ordering of the magnetic moments of the Fe³⁺ ions. The Gibbs free energy of formation,Δ_fG^o_m (298.15 K) of andradite is −5414.8 ± 5.5 kJ/mol and was obtained by combining our entropy and heat capacity data with the known breakdown of andradite to pseudowollastonite and hematite at ≈ 1410 to 1438 K. From a reexamination of the calcite + quartz = wollastonite equilibrium data we obtained Δ_fH^o_m(298.15 K) = − 1634.5 ± 1.8 kJ/mol for wollastonite.

Between 300 and 1000 K the molar heat capacity of andradite can be represented by the equation C^o_p,m = 809.24 - 7.025 × 10−2T− 7.403 × 10³T−0.5 − 6.789 × 10⁵T−2. We have also used our thermochemical data for andradite to estimate the Gibbs free energy of formation of hedenbergite (CaFeSi₂O₆) for which we obtained Δ_fG^o_m (298.15 K) = −2674.3 ± 5.8 kJ/mol.