Growth of barite group crystals by the flux evaporation method

Single crystals of BaSO4, SrSO4 and PbSO4 have been grown by the flux evaporation method by employing NaCl as flux for BaSO4 and SrSO4, and Na2SO4 for PbSO4. The crystals grown by this method are identified with the help of X-ray diffraction photographs. The effect of cooling rate on the morphology of the crystals has been studied in the case of SrSO4 and BaSO4. By employing etching techniques, the dislocation densities of BaSO4 and SrSO4 have been evaluated and found to be very low as compared to that of natural crystals. A plausible mechanism of growth of the crystals grown by the chemically reacted flux method by Patel et al. has been suggested