Discovering Novel Glass with Robust Crystallization Resistance via Amorphous Phase Separation Engineering

Abstract

Amorphous phase separation (APS) is ubiquitously found in a large number of glass systems, because the glass can be regarded as solid with a heterogeneous structure at the nanoscale. However, little attention has been paid to the big challenges in utilizing APS in searching novel amorphous glass from above to below, which highlights the meticulous microstructure tunability of glass. Correspondingly, we develop a novel SiO2-Al2O3-P2O5-Li2O-ZrO2 glass with APS (SAPLZ APS) which has robust crystallization resistance via the APS engineering. A comparative study is conducted to reveal the APS–crystallization property relationship. It can be found that the introduced APS can substantially impede the precipitated crystal growth in the studied glass system. Considering detailed glassy structure and microstructure, a diffusion barrier around each Li-rich droplet is created by the presence of P5+ concentration surrounding the Li-rich region. Meanwhile, due to the increase in Q4 at the expense of Q3, the polymerization degree in the Si-rich amorphous area can be enhanced, further increasing its viscosity and raising the kinetic barrier of Si-related crystal growth. These findings provide a new manner to develop new glass with superior anti-crystallization performance.