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- Crystal growth (4) (entfernen)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
- 5 Werkstofftechnik (1)
- 5.6 Glas (1)
Glass bricks are important transparent building materials. They are produced by joining two halves of glass pressings at 600700 °C. During this production process alkali oxides evaporate and are redeposited at the cooler inner front surfaces of the bricks. This surface layer reacts with H2O and CO2 from the residual brick atmosphere, leading to the formation of an alkali-rich silicate-hydrate layer of ≥50 nm thickness, which could be evidenced leading to a reduced nano-hardness of similar thickness, and from which NaHCO3 crystals can finally grow. Climate chamber experiments (repeated cooling between at -8 and -14 °C and reheating to 0 to 15 °C) resulted in reversible NaHCO3 crystallization and redissolution, presumably influenced by water evaporation or condensation and driven by the NaHCO3 supersaturation of the silicate-hydrate layer. Depending on the timetemperature schedule, different crystal morphologies became visible in this closed system, e.g. isolated spherical crystals, crystals arranged in chains and in double-chains, respectively, which can limit already the transmittance of the glass bricks. When a crack occurs or the brick is opened, the hygroscopic NaHCO3 crystals take up more H2O from the ambient, react irreversibly with the glass surface, finally leading to a total loss of transmittance.
We measured and collected literature data for the crystal growth rate, u(T), of µ-cordierite (2MgO · 2Al2O3 · 5SiO2) and diopside (CaO · MgO · 2SiO2) in their isochemical glass forming melts. The data cover exceptionally wide temperature ranges, i.e. 8001350 °C for cordierite and 7501378 °C for diopside. The maximum of u(T) occurs at about 1250 °C for both systems. A smooth shoulder is observed around 970 °C for µ-cordierite. Based on measured and collected viscosity data, we fitted u(T) using standard crystal growth models. For diopside, the experimental u(T) fits well to the 2D surface nucleation model and also to the screw dislocation growth mechanism. However, the screw dislocation model yields parameters of more significant physical meaning. For cordierite, these two models also describe the experimental growth rates. However, the best fittings of u(T) including the observed shoulder, were attained for a combined mechanism, assuming that the melt/crystal interface growing from screw dislocations is additionally roughened by superimposed 2D surface nucleation at large undercoolings, starting at a temperature around the shoulder. The good fittings indicate that viscosity can be used to assess the transport mechanism that determines crystal growth in these two systems, from the melting point Tm down to about Tg, with no sign of a breakdown of the StokesEinstein/Eyring equation.
Controlled oriented crystallization of glass surfaces is desired for high precision applications, since the uppermost crystal layer significantly influences the properties of the material. In contrast to previous studies, the data presented here deal with separated crystals growing at defect-free surfaces in four atmospheres with different degrees of humidity (ambient/dry air, argon and vacuum). A glass with the composition 2 BaO–TiO2–2.75 SiO2 was heat-treated at 825 °C until fresnoite (Ba2TiSi2O8) grew to a significant size. The crystal growth rate is found to increase with increasing humidity. The morphology of the crystals changes from highly distorted dendrites in the driest atmosphere (vacuum) to circular/spear-head-shaped crystals in the wettest atmosphere (ambient air), which we attribute to a decrease in viscosity of the glass surface due to water uptake. The least distorted crystals appear in the form of depressions of up to 6 µm. This has an influence on the observed crystal orientation, as measured by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The pulled-in crystals change the orientation during growth relative to the flat glass surface due to an enrichment in SiO2 at the crystal fronts. This confirms that the orientation of crystals is not fixed following nucleation.