Keywords: Ceramics / Phase transitions / Reversible demixing / Metastability / Temperature-controlled X-ray diffraction Demixing/recombination and metastability phenomena are observed in the La 2-2x Ca 2x Mo 2 O 9-x solid solutions of LAMOX-type fast oxide-ion conductors (0.005 Յ x Յ 0.05). The demixing process is more visible at high Ca content. The effects of composition, sample shape (powders with two degrees of fineness, ceramic pellets, single crystals) and thermal history are studied by using high-temperature X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized microscopy. All these parameters are shown to have an influence on the stability of, and transformations between, the ordered α and the disordered β forms of the LAMOX compounds. Powder samples with low Ca content (x = 0.01, 0.02) have been stabilized in the α form, and powder samples with higher Ca content (x = 0.03, 0.04, 0.05) are in the β form. Upon heating, the low-Ca-content compounds (x = 0.01 and x = 0.02) exhibit the α/β transition, whereas those with higher Ca content (x = 0.03 and x = 0.04) show a succession of β/