Crystallization of Yttrium and Samarium Aluminosilicate Glasses

Abstract

Aluminosilicate glasses containing samarium and yttrium (SmAS and YAS glasses) exhibit high glass transition temperatures, corrosion resistance, and glass stability on heating which make them useful for technological applications. Yttrium aluminosilicate glass microspheres are currently being used for internal selective radiotherapy of liver cancer. During the preparation process, crystallization needs to be totally or partially avoided depending on the final application. Thus knowing the crystallization kinetics can help to prevent or avoid it, by designing a proper thermal pathway. In this work we studied the crystallization kinetics of YAS and SmAS glasses. It was found that both, YAS and SmAS glasses crystallize from the surface. SmAS glass presented lower densities of nucleation sites. The results also showed that the crystal growth apparent enthalpy is larger for SmAS glasses.