Sintering and crystallization behavior of CaMgSi2 O6 - NaFeSi2 O6 based glass-ceramics

Abstract

We report on the synthesis, sintering, and crystallization behaviors of a glass with a composition corresponding to 90 mol % CaMgSi2 O 6 -10 mol % NaFeSi2 O6. The investigated glass composition crystallized superficially immediately after casting of the melt and needs a high cooling rate (rapid quenching) in order to produce an amorphous glass. Differential thermal analysis and hot-stage microscopy were employed to investigate the glass forming ability, sintering behavior, relative nucleation rate, and crystallization behavior of the glass composition. The crystalline phase assemblage in the glass-ceramics was studied under nonisothermal heating conditions in the temperature range of 850-950 °C in both air and N 2 atmosphere. X-ray diffraction studies adjoined with the Rietveld-reference intensity ratio method were employed to quantify the amount of crystalline phases, while electron microscopy was used to shed some light on the microstructure of the resultant glass-ceramics. Well sintered glass-ceramics with diopside as the primary crystalline phase were obtained where the amount of diopside varied with the heating conditions. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.