Crystallization Behavior of Nd2O3 Doped Na2O–CaO–SiO2 Laser Glass-ceramics

For the desirable laser optical property, transition metals or rare-earths are always doped into parent glasses as active ions, and this doping will affect the crystallization of the precursor glasses inevitably. In this work, crystallization behavior of NaO–CaO–SiO2 system glasses doped with Nd2O3 was investigated. The crystallization kinetic parameters including the crystallization apparent activation energy (E) and the Avrami parameter (n) were also measured. The results show that the NaO–CaO–SiO2 system glass-ceramics with the Na2Ca2Si3O9 crystal as primary phase can be highly crystalized as above 90%. The Nd2O3 doping has a significant influence on the crystallization apparent activation energy and the Avrami parameter, which affect the crystallization behavior and morphology of the transparent glass-ceramics of this system.