Formation and Characterization of Whisker-like β-spodumene in LAS Glass-ceramics

A novel whisker-like β- spodumene glass-ceramics was obtained. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations demonstrated phase separation in the base glass and lead to the formation of a primary crystal phase of MgF2 that promoted the formation of spherical β-spodumene. The whisker-like spodumene crystals surrounded by spherical crystals, and the whisker-like crystals grew at the expense of spherical crystals with increasing temperature and time. This means that formation mechanisms of whisker β-spodumene would be: β-spodumene nucleated and formed as spherical crystals firstly, it grew to whisker form with increasing temperature and time increased. The flexural strength of the glass ceramics reached the maximum 228MPa after heat treated at 850 ℃/1h.