-----Original Message-----
From: John Tilton [mailto:john@tiltonpottery.com]
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 6:33 AM
To: Ulrike Franck; John Tilton; Gordon Czop; Jon Dunlavy; Joerg Baumoeller; PHIL
HAMLING
Subject: Twisted Crystals
I spent a couple of hours last night Googling the book that Ulrike mentioned, "Gedrilite Kristalle," by Ferdinand Bernauer. I have seen some pictures of crystals that I think reference that book, specifically those which I think are by professor Ralf Busz, and the ones by Edmond Deinböck that he showed at Villeroy and Boch. http://www.deinboeck.net/kristallglasuren.htm. It seems like an important book and I will try to get it through my friend Kendall. It may be very difficult to get, so I just decided to look around and see whether the research in the book has been used since then, as we might be able to learn what we need to learn. There do not seem to be that many copies running around.
Here are some of the links I stumbled upon.
http://chemistry.fas.nyu.edu/object/bartkahr It seems like Bart Kahr's name keeps popping up and it turns out that he is a professor of chemistry at NYU, which is not that far from Gordon and Phil. Maybe you invite him out for a drive in the country some weekend? He has obviously studied the manuscript and probably/certainly knows a lot.
http://www.chem.queensu.ca/chemistryN/About/SeminarSeries/2011-12/Dec2_Abstract_Kahr.pdf
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cphc.201000963/abstract
http://www.materialstoday.com/view/11727/a-tale-of-twists-and-untwists/
http://iopscience.iop.org/0370-1298/64/4/301;jsessionid=9EE16D911807EE3ABC6DA0CA6A602F4C.c1
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/cen-v087n025.p043
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=24186922
I have in my mind that these "twisted crystals" are built up from modules that are slightly askew when they attach themselves to the formation that's already there. In that case, most likely, wollastonite, which has a needle like structure, will be better than whiting and silica. In other words, there is already an unusual structure to wollastonite, and all we have to do is figure out how to get the attachments out of phase. That should be easy :^)
(This is just me brainstorming to myself -- if it sounds scientific, well it's not.)
Let me know if this is just too much detritus and kind of off subject. We are trying to gain clarity here.
John