The influence of excess alkalis on the viscosity of a haplogranitic melt

Addition of alkali oxides to a haplograntic melt radically reduces the viscosity of the melt. Researchers added incremental amounts of lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and cesium oxides to melt solutions and measured the resulting change in viscosity. The first small additions of oxides reduced the viscosity extremely, with somewhat less dramatic affect upon further additions. Overall viscosity was higher the larger the cation size, so cesium oxide created the least amount of viscosity reduction and lithium the most.