Bulk crystallisation of (00l) oriented fresnoite Sr2TiSi2O8 in glass-ceramics of the Sr–Ti–Si–K–B–O system

This paper shows that glass-ceramics containing highly surface and bulk preferentially oriented fresnoite Sr2TiSi2O8 crystals can be synthesised by a simple isothermal heat treatment of suitable glass compositions in the Sr–Ti–Si–K–B–O system. For all tested compositions, crystallisation starts from the free surfaces of the specimens and propagates to bulk with time. If most of these compositions lead to (00l) preferential orientation at the specimens' surfaces, bulk crystal texture is very composition dependent. The effects of variation in K2O and B2O3 contents on the crystallisation have been studied. It is shown that low K2O and high B2O3 contents are required to keep the (00l) orientation from the surface into the bulk. This result seems to be explained by the viscosities of the initial and residual glasses at the temperature of crystallisation: a low viscosity leads to a fine and homogeneous microstructure with small and strongly (00l) bulk oriented crystals.

Research Highlights
► Textured glass-ceramics can be synthesised by a simple isothermal treatment.
► Surface preferential orientation of (00l) plans is observed with all tested glasses.
► Bulk crystal texture is very composition dependent.
► A low K2O content is required to keep the (00l) orientation from surface into bulk.
► (00l) bulk orientation is related to a fine microstructure with small crystals.