Crystallization characteristics and physico-chemical properties of indium-containing lithium iron aluminosilicate glasses

The crystallization characteristics, microhardness and chemical durability of glasses based on the Li2O-Al2O3-Fe2O3 (In2O3)-SiO2 system were investigated. The present work aims to study the effect of In2O3/Fe2O3 replacements on the crystallization and the resulting microstructure of the glass-ceramics. Very fine grained microstructure was mostly developed by In2O3/Fe2O3 replacements in the glass-ceramics. The crystalline phases formed after controlled heat-treatment of the glasses were beta-eucryptite ss, lithium meta- and di-silicate as well as two forms of pyroxene phases (LiFeSi2O6 and LiInSi2O6). The microhardness values of the resulting glass-ceramics were decreased with In2O3/Fe2O3 replacements while the chemical durability was improved. The obtained data were correlated to the type of the crystalline phases formed and the resulting microstructure. Promising glass-ceramic materials of fine microstructure and good chemical durability could be obtained. Crown Copyright (c) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.