Abstract
Peak area analyses of Mössbauer spectra were used to directly appraise models of cation distribution in synthetic titanomagnetites, Ti
x
Fe
3−
x
O
4(0<
x<1). For
x<0.30, room-temperature and zero-field data were sufficient for this purpose. At higher Ti concentrations, however, they were inconclusive or ineffective because the Mössbauer signals from Fe ions on both tetrahedral and octahedral sites were inextricable. Instead, Mössbauer spectra were collected at 4.2
K in a 7
T magnetic field. In these spectra, the signal from Fe
3+ ions on the tetrahedral sites of the cubic spinels was effectively delineated, and on the basis of its area fraction a new cation distribution is proposed.