Rutile

Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide (TiO2). Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide (TiO2). Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Other rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visible wavelengths of any known crystal and also exhibits a particularly large birefringence and high dispersion. Owing to these properties, it is useful for the manufacture of certain optical elements, especially polarization optics, for longer visible and infrared wavelengths up to about 4.5 μm. Natural rutile may contain up to 10% iron and significant amounts of niobium and tantalum. Rutile derives its name from the Latin rutilus, red, in reference to the deep red color observed in some specimens when viewed by transmitted light. Rutile was first described in 1803 by Abraham Gottlob Werner. Rutile is a common accessory mineral in high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic rocks and in igneous rocks. Thermodynamically, rutile is the most stable polymorph of TiO2 at all temperatures, exhibiting lower total free energy than metastable phases of anatase or brookite. Consequently, the transformation of the metastable TiO2 polymorphs to rutile is irreversible. As it has the lowest molecular volume of the three main polymorphs, it is generally the primary titanium bearing phase in most high-pressure metamorphic rocks, chiefly eclogites. Within the igneous environment, rutile is a common accessory mineral in plutonic igneous rocks, though it is also found occasionally in extrusive igneous rocks, particularly those such as kimberlites and lamproites that have deep mantle sources. Anatase and brookite are found in the igneous environment particularly as products of autogenic alteration during the cooling of plutonic rocks; anatase is also found in placer deposits sourced from primary rutile. The occurrence of large specimen crystals is most common in pegmatites, skarns, and granite greisens. Rutile is found as an accessory mineral in some altered igneous rocks, and in certain gneisses and schists. In groups of acicular crystals it is frequently seen penetrating quartz as in the fléches d'amour from Graubünden, Switzerland. In 2005 the Republic of Sierra Leone in West Africa had a production capacity of 23% of the world's annual rutile supply, which rose to approximately 30% in 2008. Rutile has a tetragonal unit cell, with unit cell parameters a = b = 4.584 Å, and c = 2.953 Å. The titanium cations have a coordination number of 6, meaning they are surrounded by an octahedron of 6 oxygen atoms. The oxygen anions have a coordination number of 3, resulting in a trigonal planar coordination. Rutile also shows a screw axis when its octahedra are viewed sequentially.