2 research outputs found
Crystal Structure, Phase Transitions and Photoferroelectric Properties of KNbO3-Based Lead-Free Ferroelectric Ceramics: A Brief Review
Ferroelectric KNbO3 (KN) ceramics were first fabricated in the 1950s, however, their use in commercial technical applications has been hampered by inherently challenging processing difficulties. In the early 1990s, the interest in KN ceramics was revived by the pursuit of Pb-free piezoceramics. More recently the search for inexpensive photovoltaic materials alternative to Si prompted bandgap engineering studies in KN-based solid solutions. If the ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties of KN-based ceramics are now well established, the understanding of chemical doping on the bandgap of KN-based ceramics is still in its infancy. Here we provide a brief review on the current understanding of the structure-property relationships in this class of materials, which successively covers crystal structures, structural phase transitions, lattice dynamics, polarization, solid solutions and bandgap engineering of KN
Study of the physical properties of a novel lithium aluminosilicate dental glass-ceramic
The aim of this study is to simultaneously establish the processability and
physical properties of Lithium aluminosilicate-based (LAS) glass for dental
restorations. An eventual outcome is the production of glass-ceramic matching
both the aesthetics and mechanical properties of natural tooth. The two LASbased glass compositions, refer to as LAS1 glass and LAS2 glass, are
investigated using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy
(ICP-OES), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), X-ray Diffraction (XRD),
Raman Spectroscopy (RS), Ultrasonic Testing (UT), Vickers Hardness and threepoint bending flexural testing. ICP-OES analyses reveal LAS1 glass and LAS2
glass to be compositionally similar, however LAS2 glass contains traces of
vanadium. XRD analyses reveal the presence of Li3PO4 and Li2SiO3 crystals in
LAS1 glass, which apparently are not detected in LAS2 glass, however RS
analyses obviously show vestiges of these phases in LAS2 glass. DSC reveals
LAS1 glass and LAS2 glass to exhibit similar thermal behaviour. LAS1 glass
shows a glass transition temperature of ~500°C, two major thermal exothermic
events at 615°C and 705°C, which are followed by two minor thermal exothermic
events at 750°C and 790°C, and finally a major endothermic event at 910°C.
Based on In-situ XRD analyses carried out between 540°C to 790°C, the first
exothermic event centred at ~615°C can be associated with the successive
crystallisation of Li2SiO3, Li0.25Al0.25Si0.75O2 and LiAlSi4O10, whereas the second
peak centred at ~705°C can be associated with the crystallisation of LiAlSi2O6
and Li2Si2O5. Similar results are obtained for isothermal treatments of 30 minutes
in the temperature range of 610°C and 870°C, as shown by combined ex-situ by
XRD and RS analyses. The incorporation of a nucleation step of 300 minutes at
550°C, reduces the crystallisation temperature of LiAlSi4O10 and
Li0.25Al0.25Si0.75O2 by ~20°C, but also leads to increase of the crystallite sizes.
Following this initial evaluation of the impact of isothermal heat treatments, other
heat treatments are strategically carried out at temperatures below and above the
exothermic events in order to evaluate again their impact on both phase
assemblage and physical properties, such as hardness, elastic modulus, fracture
toughness and colour. Hence, based on the DSC data, nucleation is carried out
at a temperature of 550°C for 300 minutes, and crystallisations are carried out at
670°C, 780°C, 800°C, 830°C and 850°C, for different time lengths. XRD results
reveal LiAlSi2O6 to be the dominant crystalline phase, followed by Li2Si2O5 and
Li2SiO3 for both LAS1 glass and LAS2 glass. Both LAS1 and LAS2 glassceramics exhibit high values of mechanical properties when the heat treatment is
at 550°C for 300min,780°C for 120min and 830°C-850°C for 120 min. Moreover,
LAS1 glass and LAS2 glass heat treated above 770°C are both aesthetically
suitable for dental restorations. Regarding the LAS1 glass, the colour is white,
whereas LAS2 glass colour is identical to several standard shades including D2,
C1 and B2, depending on the heat treatment temperatur