From glass to crystal

Glass-ceramics are now commonplace in our daily lives, despite having only been discovered for less than a century. Much still remains to be investigated and understood about these materials, both in their applications as well as in the underlying scientific concepts. This book aims to contribute to this objective, providing a complete overview on these materials. It presents an update on the recent developments concerning the mechanisms of nucleation, crystal growth and phase separation, bringing together theoretical aspects and characterization methods. It also covers current and future applications of a large variety of glass-ceramics.

The book comprises three main parts. The first proposes an assessment of the various theories on nucleation, growth and phase separation in glassy systems. The second describes microscopic and spectroscopic analytical tools and focuses on recent advances applied to the characterization of glass-ceramics. The last part presents different families of glass-ceramics (oxides, oxyfluorides, chalcogenides) and their applications in many areas (optics, biomedical, domestic, artistic, storage of hazardous wastes...).

This reference book is destined to students (Master, PhD levels…), lecturers, researchers, engineers, at university or in industry, or just those of us who are curious and keen to discover the exciting world of transformation of glass into these “hybrid” glass-ceramic materials, arising through this apparently simple glass to crystal transformation...

Daniel R. Neuville, IPGP-CNRS Senior Research Director, studies the thermodynamic and rheological properties of glasses, crystals and melts by linking their structure at high temperature to the macroscopic properties, applications ranging from Earth to materials sciences.

Laurent Cormier, CNRS Senior Research Director, studies the structural properties of oxide glasses and liquids to better understand nucleation and, in particular, the role of nucleating agents in the formation of the glass-ceramics.

Daniel Caurant, Researcher scientist at the CNRS, focuses on the relationship between composition, structure and properties of oxide glasses and studies the solubilization and dispersion of certain specific elements in glass matrices.

Lionel Montagne, Professor at the University of Lille 1, investigates glasses and glass-ceramics based on phosphates or silicates using solid-state NMR. He develops glasses for non-conventional applications such as self-healing seals or alternative matrices for nuclear wastes.