Preparation and properties of Li2O-BaO-Al2-O3-SiO2 glass-ceramic materials

The crystallization of some glasses, based on celsian-spodumene glass-ceramics, was investigated by different techniques including differential thermal analysis, optical microscope, X-ray diffraction, indentation, microhardness, bending strengths, water absorption and density measurement. The batches were melted and then cast into glasses, which were subjected to heat treatment to induce controlled crystallization. The resulting crystalline materials were mainly composed of beta-eucryptite solid solution, beta-spodumene solid solution, hexacelsian and monoclinic celsian, exhibiting fine grains and uniform texture. It has been found that an increasing content of celsian phase in the glasses results in increased bulk crystallization. The obtained glass-ceramic materials are characterized by high values of hardness ranging between 953 and 1013 kg/mm(2), zero water absorption and bending strengths values ranging between 88 and 126MPa, which makes them suitable for many applications under aggressive mechanical conditions.