History of Hydrothermal Technology - Hydrothermal Technology - page 66

the world's annual production; it has the largest autoclaves in the world [58] .
Figure 2.9 shows the quartz crystals obtained by Walker during 1950s [59] .
Figure 2.10 shows the quartz crystals obtained at AT&T Bell Labs during the
1970s (R.A. Laudise, personal communication), and Figure 2.11 shows the growth
of quartz crystals in the world's largest autoclave located at the Toyo
Communication Co. Ltd., Japan, during the 1980s [56] . In one experimental run,
about 4000 4500 kg of quartz was produced. The early success in producing

commercial quartz crystals in Japan during the postwar period paved the way for
several others in the field. Some prominent ones are: Prof. T. Noda, Prof. Doimon,
Prof. R. Kiyoora, and Dr. Y. Itoh. When the North American laboratories were
concentrating mainly on the development of new designs of autoclaves, the study
of phase equilibria, and commercial production of quartz, Japan concentrated essen-
tially on the growth of quartz crystals and achieved its goal in becoming the world's
largest producer.
The study of ternary and other more complex systems during the 1950s was very
important, not only from the point of view of geological science, but also from the
inorganic chemistry point of view, as several new compounds which were hitherto
unknown or not found in nature could be crystallized. Some of the important
systems studied under this category are: MgO

a

SiO 2 a H 2 O, Al 2 O 3 a SiO 2 a

H 2 O,

Figure 2.10 Quartz crystals
obtained at AT&T Bell
Labs.
Source: Photograph courtesy
of R.A. Laudise.