Growth and calorimetric measurements on CsLiB6O10

Single crystals of cesium lithium borate (CLBO) were grown from stoichiometric melt, as well as from B2O3 deficient flux. Calorimetric measurements performed on the grown crystals show that the material transforms to glassy phase from the molten phase even at cooling rates as low as 1 °C/min. The transformation to the crystalline phase from the glass phase does not occur during the heating cycle in the DTA experiments. In order to estimate the onset of crystallization temperature of CLBO glass and ensure the appearance of crystallization peak during heating cycle, a new approach (seeded crystallization) was adopted in the DTA experiments. The onset of seeded crystallization temperature shows a strong dependence on the heating and cooling rates. The activation energy of seeded crystallization determined by Kissinger method turns out to be 3.07 eV. The ergodicity making (EM) of the glass transition as seen from the DSC measurement is ∼ 424 °C for a heating rate of 5 °C/min. Microscopic examination suggests that the glass CLBO transforms to crystalline phase via. dendrites.