Study of the stability of the molten zone and the stresses induced during the growth of Al2O3–Y3Al5O12 eutectic composite by the laser floating zone technique

Time-resolved fluorescence line-narrowing of Eu^3+ in biocompatible eutectic glass-ceramics

“…For this purpose, the samples were fabricated by the laser floating zone technique (LFZ) which permits to obtain shaped fiber glasses and glass-ceramic materials up to 4 mm in diameter. Furthermore, it allows controlling the solidification rate by means of the growth rate, providing high axial and radial thermal gradients in the liquid-solid interface [7,[31][32][33], of paramount importance in the final microstructure obtained, in such a way that glasses and glass-ceramic materials can be produced. The spectroscopic properties of Eu 3+ in biocompatible glass and glass-ceramic eutectic rods of composition 0.8CaSiO 3 -0.2Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 doped with 0.5 wt% of Eu 2 O 3 are investigated to explore their potential applications as optical probes and identify the different micro-structural phases present in the glass ceramic.…”

Laser Machining and In Vitro Assessment of Wollastonite-Tricalcium Phosphate Eutectic Glasses and Glass-Ceramics

“…The resulting powders were isostatically pressed at 200 MPa for 2 min and the obtained ceramic rods were sintered at 1200 °C for 10 h. Next, a CO 2 Laser Floating Zone (LFZ) system was used to manufacture W-TCP eutectic glass and glass-ceramic samples and after the growth process samples were annealed at 923° Kelvin for 5 h to relieve the stresses formed during the fast cooling of the solidification front. A more detailed description of this manufacturing process is summarized elsewhere [26,27]. The main advantages of this technique when compared to other directional solidification techniques such as Bridgman and Czochralski are the few amount of material required to explore new composites without the requirement of a crucible, hence avoiding the possible contaminants coming from the melt container, the possibility of growing materials with very high melting points, and both the high radial and axial thermal gradients achieved in the solidification front, up to 10 6 K/m, which allow controlling the resulting microstructure and hence to manufacture crystals, high melting point composite ceramics and even glasses.…”

Directional solidification, thermo-mechanical and optical properties of (Mg_xCa_1-x)_3Al_2Si_3O_12 glasses doped with Nd^3+ ions

“…The precursor and the grown rod are counter rotated to improve the heat distribution in the molten zone. This technique permits to control the solidification rate, providing high axial and radial thermal gradients in the liquid-solid interface, of paramount importance in the microstructure domain, and opens up the possibility of fabricating glasses and glass-ceramics samples [24,25] (Aldrich, 99.99%) was added to the composites to obtain the doped samples. The resulting powders were isostatically pressed at 200 MPa for 3 minutes to obtain ceramic rods which were sintered at 1200°C for 12 hours.…”