Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics study on new amorphous Ga20Sb5S75 and Ga20Sb40S40 chalcogenide glasses

Bulk glasses of the system Ga20SbxS80−x (x = 5 and 40) were prepared for the first time by the known melt quenching technique. Non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) measurements of as-quenched Ga20SbxS80−x (x = 5 and 40) chalcogenide glasses reveal that the characteristic temperatures e.g. the glass transition temperature (Tg), the temperature corresponding to the maximum crystallization rate (Tp) recorded in the temperature range 400-650 K for x = 5 and 480-660 K for x = 40 are strongly dependent on heating rate and Sb content. Upon heating, these glasses show a single glass transition temperature (Tg) and double crystallization temperatures (Tp1 and Tp2) for x = 5 which overlapped and appear as a single crystallization peak (Tp) for x = 40. The activation energies of crystallization Ec were evaluated by three different methods. The crystallization data were examined in terms of recent analysis developed for non-isothermal conditions. The crystalline phases resulting from (DSC) have been identified using X-ray diffraction.