ɛ-Na
2Si
2O
5, ζ-Na
2Si
2O
5, Na
2Si[Si
2O
7], and Na
6Si
3[Si
9O
27] have been synthesized using an MA6/8 superpress. Densification in high-pressure sodium silicates is effected largely by
changes in packing. In the relaxed (1 bar) structures, cation polyhedra and thermal/displacement parameters are similar to
those of low-pressure silicates, but the extra-framework cation positions are oversized. The two mixed
[4]Si and
[6]Si framework silicates of known structure (Na
2Si[Si
2O
7] and Na
6Si
3[Si
9O
27]) belong to the limited homologous series Na
2mSi
m[Si
n–mO
2n+m], with m<n. The structure-composition relationships of wadeite-type, A
2Ge
4O
9-type, and Na
6Si
3[Si
9O
27] silicates and germanates depend on T-O distance and size of the large extra-framework cation. Characteristic features of
the SiO
4 tetrahedral units are present in micro-Raman spectra of mixed
[4]Si and
[6]Si framework silicates, but bands uniquely attributable to SiO
6 octahedra are weak or obscured. However,
[6]Si has a profound indirect influence on the Raman spectra, resulting in intense and complex low-frequency bands, assigned
to symmetric bending modes with coupled displacements at both bridging oxygens and nonbridging oxygens bonded to
[6]Si, and a shift to higher frequency and reduction in intensity of the high-frequency bands assigned to symmetric
[4]Si-O
nbr stretching vibrations. Raman spectroscopy does not appear to be a useful structural probe for small amounts of
[6]Si in silicate glasses and melts.
Received Februar 6, 1996 / Revised, accepted November 6, 1996