Effect of Cooling Rate on Glass Formation for Some Oxynitride Glasses

Rapid cooling rates and quenching have traditionally been associated with glass formation. Hampshire et al. [1] investigated oxynitride glasses cooled in a tungsten resistance furnace at approximately 200oC/min and found that fast cooling rates were only important near the limits of the glass-forming region. In the current work on various M-Si-Al-O-N (M=Y, La, Yb, Nd) systems, it was found that even at a relatively slow cooling rate glass formation was still possible for a wide range of compositions. Different cooling rates were investigated to determine the minimum cooling rate at which a glass will form. Quantitative X-ray analysis of melted compositions indicated the relative amounts of amorphous phase and crystalline phase.