Perlite

perlite, also called pearlstone, a natural glass with concentric cracks such that the rock breaks into small pearl-like bodies. It is formed by the rapid cooling of viscous lava or magma. Perlite has a waxy to pearly lustre and is commonly gray or greenish but may be brown, blue, or red.

Some perlites are of intrusive origin (dikes), but others constitute major portions of lava flows. These glassy rocks may grade into nearly completely crystalline volcanic types. Like obsidian, they may contain large crystals (phenocrysts) of quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase feldspar, and, in some cases, biotite or hornblende; where phenocrysts are abundant the rock passes into vitrophyre.

Perlite is a type of rhyolite with a chemical composition, index of refraction, and specific gravity similar to those of obsidian. Its water content, however, is considerably higher (generally 3 to 4 percent); much of it is absorbed, subsequent to consolidation, from the sea or from wet sediments into which the perlite was intruded.

Devitrification, or conversion of the glass to a microscopically fine crystalline aggregate, is usually initiated spontaneously along cracks or at the surfaces of phenocrysts and crystalline bodies (spherulites). Some minutely crystalline rocks show well-developed perlitic structure and undoubtedly represent completely devitrified perlite. The localization of spherulites along curved and concentric bands in certain glass-free rocks suggests a devitrified perlite with spherulitic growth along the perlitic cracks.

When crushed perlite is rapidly heated, the contained water is converted to steam; tiny bubbles are formed within the softened rock, and the perlite is thus expanded up to 20 times its original volume. Because of its very low density, heat-treated perlite is a substitute for sand in lightweight wall plaster and concrete aggregate. The porous nature of perlite makes the material ideal for heat and sound insulation; other uses include lightweight ceramic products, filters, and fillers.

Before about 1950 perlite was virtually unknown in commerce. Since then, however, great deposits have been worked in New Mexico, Nevada, California, and other western states; production outside the United States has increased very slowly, the chief producers in the second half of the 20th century being Greece and Turkey. In the early 21st century Greece became the world’s largest producer of perlite. Other major perlite-producing counties at present include Hungary, Italy, and Georgia.