The mechanism of electrochemically induced nucleation in glass melts with the composition 2BaO · TiO2· 2.75SiO2

Abstract The mechanism of electrochemical nucleation is studied using electrochemical methods and differential thermal analysis. A platinum crucible containing an undercooled melt with the composition 2BaO · TiO 2 · 2.75SiO 2 was contacted with a platinum wire and another platinum wire was inserted into the melt. Then a dc-potential leading to a current flow was attached. At the cathode nucleation and subsequent crystal growth occurred. This is due to the electrochemical reduction of Ti 4+ to Ti 3+ . Assuming Ti 4+ and Ti 3+ to be incorporated as network formers and modifiers, respectively, this leads to a decrease of the mean number of bridging oxygens per network former. This can be explained by percolation theory which can be used to calculate the undercooling temperature necessary to achieve nucleation directly from the mean number of bridging oxygens per network former. Since for nucleation, a certain Ti 3+ -concentration is necessary, a certain threshold with respect to the current density is required to achieve nucleation. This threshold increases with increasing temperature.