Kinetics and mechanism of anatase-to-rutile phase transformation in the presence of borosilicate glass

Abstract

The effects of borosilicate glass (BSG) on the kinetics and mechanism of anataseto- rutile phase transformation have been investigated. The displacive anatase-to-rutile phase transformation kinetics of TiO2 were greatly enhanced in the presence of BSG. The transformation kinetics followed the Avrami equation, and the results showed an apparent activation energy of 260–370 kJ/mol, which was close to the bond strength of Ti–O, suggesting a reaction-controlling mechanism. The values of the Avrami exponent were in the range of 1.4–2.3, which could be interpreted as two-dimensional reaction-controlled growth at zero nucleation rate. The rutile particles obtained by the phase transformation were always much larger than the starting anatase powders, which was explained by a mechanism of phase-transformation–induced particle coalescence.