Glass-crystal transformation under non-isothermal conditions: Kinetic analysis of the Ag 0.16As 0.38Se 0.46 glassy alloy by using a new theoretical method based on nucleation and growth processes, which depend on time as a power law

Abstract

A theoretical method, which we have published in two previous works, has been applied to the study of the glass-crystal transformation of the Ag 0.16As 0.38Se 0.46 semiconductor glass under non-isothermal conditions. This method allows one to obtain an evolution equation with temperature for the actual volume fraction, to calculate the kinetic parameters of the quoted transformation, to establish the thermal process type, to determine the dimensionality of the crystal growth and to evaluate the exponents of the power laws of the time-dependence both for the nucleation frequency and for the crystal growth rate in non-isothermal transformations. The quoted method assumes the concept of extended volume of the transformed material, the condition of randomly located nuclei and the supposition of mutual interference of regions growing from separated nuclei, considering moreover the case presented in the practice of a kinetic exponent with a value larger than 4. To study the quoted case it is proposed that both the nucleation frequency and the crystal growth rate depend on time as a power law. The above-mentioned Ag 0.16As 0.38Se 0.46 glassy alloy presents two exothermic peaks. The second peak gives for the kinetic exponent a value large enough than 4 and it is necessary to resort to the hypotheses of the considered method to justify the unexpectedly high value of the kinetic exponent. Following the quoted method it has been found that the thermal process type is continuous nucleation with three-dimensional growth for the two peaks of crystallization of the studied alloy. Moreover, the experimental curve of the transformed fraction shows a satisfactory agreement with the theoretical curve corresponding to the considered method, confirming the reliability of the quoted method in order to analyze the transformation kinetics of the above-mentioned alloy.