taenite

{{Short description|Alloy of iron and nickel found in meteorites}}

{{Infobox mineral

| name = Taenite

| category = Metals and intermetallic alloys

| boxwidth =

| boxbgcolor =

| image = Widmanstatten patterns 2.jpg

| imagesize = 260px

| caption = Widmanstätten patterns of kamacite and taenite, from a meteorite currently in the Natural History Museum, London.

| formula = {{chem|γ-(Ni,Fe)}}

| IMAsymbol = Tae{{Cite journal|last=Warr|first=L.N.|date=2021|title=IMA–CNMNC approved mineral symbols|journal=Mineralogical Magazine|volume=85|issue=3|pages=291–320|doi=10.1180/mgm.2021.43|bibcode=2021MinM...85..291W|s2cid=235729616|doi-access=free}}

| molweight =

| strunz = 1.AE.10

| system = Isometric

| class = Hexoctahedral (m{{Overline|3}}m)
H-M symbol: (4/m {{Overline|3}} 2/m)

| symmetry = Fm3m

| color = Metallic grayish to white

| habit =

| twinning =

| cleavage = None

| fracture = Hackly

| tenacity = Malleable, flexible

| mohs = 5–5.5

| luster = Metallic

| streak = Light gray

| diaphaneity = Opaque

| gravity = 7.8–8.22

| density =

| polish =

| opticalprop =

| refractive =

| birefringence =

| pleochroism =

| 2V =

| dispersion =

| extinction =

| length fast/slow =

| fluorescence=

| absorption =

| melt =

| fusibility =

| diagnostic =

| solubility =

| other = Non-radioactive, magnetic.

| alteration =

| references = {{cite web |last1=Anthony |first1=John W. |last2=Bideaux |first2=Richard A. |last3=Bladh |first3=Kenneth W. |last4=Nichols |first4=Monte C. |title=Taenite |url=http://www.handbookofmineralogy.org/pdfs/taenite.pdf |website=Handbook of Mineralogy |publisher=Mineral Data Publishing |access-date=14 March 2022 |date=2005}}http://webmineral.com/data/Taenite.shtml {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122054347/http://webmineral.com/data/Taenite.shtml |date=2021-01-22 }} Webmineral data

}}

Image:Widmanstatten hand.jpg

Taenite is a mineral found naturally on Earth mostly in iron meteorites. It is an alloy of iron and nickel, with a chemical formula of {{chem2|Fe,Ni}} and nickel proportions of 20% up to 65%.

The name is derived from the Greek ταινία for "band, ribbon". Taenite is a major constituent of iron meteorites. In octahedrites it is found in bands interleaving with kamacite forming Widmanstätten patterns, whereas in ataxites it is the dominant constituent. In octahedrites a fine intermixture with kamacite can occur, which is called plessite.

Taenite is one of four known Fe-Ni meteorite minerals: The others are kamacite, tetrataenite, and antitaenite.