Effect of different conventional melt quenching technique on purity of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) nano crystal phase formed in lithium borate glass

• Published in: Results in physics 2012, Vol.2, p.207-211
• Main Authors: Kashif, Ismail, Soliman, Ashia A., Sakr, Elham M., Ratep, Asmaa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Borate glass; Conventional melt quenching technique; Differential thermal analysis (DTA); Heat treatment; Lithium niobate (LiNbO3); X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• ISSN: 2211-3797; 2211-3797
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rinp.2012.10.003

The glass system (45Li2O+45B2O3+10Nb2O5) was fabricated by the conventional melt quenching technique poured in water, at air, between two hot plates and droplets at the cooled surface. The glass and glass ceramics were studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The as quenched samples poured in water and between two hot plates were amorphous. The samples poured at air and on cooled surface were crystalline as established via X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) studies. Differential thermal analysis was measured. The glass transition temperature (Tg) and the crystallization temperatures were calculated. Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) was the main phase in glass ceramic poured at air, droplets at the cooled surface and the heat treated glass sample at 500, 540 and 580°C in addition to traces from LiNb3O8. Crystallite size of the main phases determined from the X-ray diffraction peaks is in the range of