Effect of some rare-earth oxides on structure, devitrification and properties of diopside based glasses

Four diopside based glasses containing an equimolar concentration of different rare-earth oxides (La2O3, Nd2O3, Gd2O3 and Yb2O3) respectively, were obtained by melt-quenching technique. Structural and thermal behaviour of the glasses was investigated by density and molar volume, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dilatometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All the glasses exhibited amorphous phase separation. The crystallization behaviour of the glasses was investigated by using differential thermal analysis (DTA). Sintering, crystallization, microstructure, and properties of the glass-ceramics were investigated under non-isothermal heating conditions in the temperature range of 800–900 °C.