Influence of glass wastes on the microstructural evolution and crystallization kinetics of glass-ceramic glaze

The present work focuses on the effect of different percentages (5, 10 and 15 wt%) of glass waste (tube light (TL) and borosilicate (BS)) addition on the microstructure evolution and crystallization kinetics of standard opaque glaze (SOG). While the XRD pattern shows zircon as the main crystalline phase, microstructural analysis by SEM depicts that its average crystallite size decreases from 960 to 440 nm in glass waste added SOG. The activation energy of zircon crystallization for BS-SOG is 531.5 KJ mol(-1), which is higher than that of TL-SOG (524.2 KJ mol(-1)) and SOG (487.3 KJ mol(-1)). The Avrami index (n) is in the range of 0.5-1.5, which suggests that the surface crystallization mechanism and diffusion-controlled growth are dominant. On the basis of visual appearance, the sample with 15 wt% of glass waste exhibits higher opacity and whiteness. Therefore, the glass waste can be considered as a value addition in the glass-ceramic glaze. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.