Nucleation kinetics in some silicate glass-forming melts

Nucleation phenomena in several congruently melting silicate glasses were studied previously. Classical nucleation theory was found to provide a good description of the results in some silicate melts and not in others. In this study, crystal nucleation in several silicate melts has been re-investigated. The kinetics of nucleation were determined trom the measured number of crystals as a function of time, evaluated from the optical microscopy of the thin sections, for crystals formed internal to the samples. The crystalline phases produced in such volume crystallization were identified by x-ray diffraction. The results obtained are compared with previous reports of nucleation kinetics in the materials, and with predictions of classical nucleation theory.