Recent studies of internal and surface nucleation in silicate glasses

This article reviews recent findings on internal and surface nucleation in silicate glasses. The internal homogeneous nucleation rates sharply decrease and the induction times increase with the Tg/TL ratio (Tg is the glass–transition temperature and TL is the liquidus temperature). Only systems that have Tg/TL < 0.58 display measurable internal nucleation rates on a laboratory time–scale. Numerous tests of the classical nucleation theory have demonstrated that the theory fails to describe nucleation rates in glasses quantitatively. Possible explanations for this failure are tested and discussed. Surface nucleation depends strongly on the surface quality, e.g. tips, cracks and scratches, elastic stresses, foreign particles and surrounding atmosphere. The mechanisms of surface nucleation are still not fully understood, but some of the key factors are now known and the surface–nucleation density can thus be controlled for the development of sintered glasses or glass ceramics.