Mechanisms of Devitrification in Modifier Alumino-silicophosphate Glasses

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Chen, Julia
Area of Honors:
Materials Science and Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
John C Mauro, Thesis Supervisor
Amy Carol Robinson, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Glass
LionGlass
Crystallization
Devitrification
Avrami
Materials Science
Abstract:
Glass is ubiquitous in everyday life, yet glass production releases almost 86 million metric tons of CO2 every year. CO2 is released from batch materials when forming glass and when generating the energy needed to power furnaces at high temperatures 24 hours a day. The most prevalent glass composition is soda-lime glass (SLG), responsible for almost 90% of glass products made. LionGlass is a patent pending family of compositions that eliminates carbon dioxide from its composition and has a lower melting temperature than SLG, meaning it reduces carbon emissions by roughly 65%. The composition is in its infancy stage and requires significant characterization before being implemented in industry. Crystallization within a glass system decreases the desired optical properties of glass and significantly affects its mechanical properties. X-ray diffraction was used to identify Ca2(P2O7) as the crystalline phase formed in LionGlass samples when subjected to different temperature and time treatments. The Avrami equations were used to determine the mechanism of crystal growth as needle-like or two-dimensional and scanning electron microscopy was used to confirm the results. Potential errors were discussed. Further work in crystal growth rate, Time-Temperature-Transform diagrams, and activation energy of crystallization will be conducted.