Study of glass formation and crystallization of Y2O3-BaO-CuO-B2O3 glass-ceramics

Abstract

This paper presents a series of investigations establishing the glass-forming limits from binary to quaternary in the Y2O3-BaO-CuO-B2O3 system. The glass-forming ability and crystallization behavior of the Y2O3-BaO-CuO-B2O3 system was studied by XRD, SEM and DTA techniques. Based on the binary glass-forming limits, two stable "pseudo-saturated" base glasses, with ϑx-Tg values greater than 200K, were obtained. Several "supersaturated" YBa2Cu3O6+δ - B203 glasses were made which contain about 20 mol% B2O3. Upon heat treatment, formation of tetragonal YBa2Cu3O6+δ was observed to initiate at the surface. The progressive development of the superconducting 123 phase from the "supersaturated" glasses indicates the feasibility of obtaining superconducting materials using the glass-ceramic route.