Preparation and characterization of alkali-free glass substrates with enhanced properties for TFT–LCDs applications

Abstract To obtain an alkali-free glass substrate with enhanced properties for thin-film transistor–liquid crystal displays (TFT–LCDs) applications, we chose a base glass composed of 3B2O3-15Al2O3-58SiO2-22MgO-0.5SrO-1.5MgF2 (mol%) for nucleation–crystallization. The results show that when the nucleation–crystallization processes of the base glass are 810 °C/6 h + 880 °C/6–9 h, the prepared GC/6–GC/9 glass-ceramics exhibit enhanced properties because of the precipitation of nano-sized cordierite. The transmittances in the visible range of the GC/6–GC/9 glass-ceramics exceed 85%, the densities are 2.564–2.567 g/cm3, thermal expansion coefficients are 2.934–3.059 × 10-6/°C (25–300 °C), compressive strengths are 417–589 MPa, bending strengths are 141–259 MPa, Vickers hardnesses are 6.8–7.8 GPa, and strain points are approximately 735 °C. Considering these properties, the prepared GC/6–GC/9 glass-ceramics have good potential as candidate materials for alkali-free glass substrates. Additionally, these results demonstrate that it is feasible to improve the properties of alkali-free glass substrates by nucleation–crystallization.