Development of a glass-ceramic material by means of controlled vitrification and crystallisation of sugarcane bagasse ash

Abstract

Conventional methodology to study glass and ceramic-glass will be applied in this work: fusion of several compositions, quenching of the liquid to obtain the glassy material and, controlled crystallization of the amorphous material. Sugar-cane bagasse ash, used as silica supply, will be mixed with calcium oxide (or carbonate) and sodium oxide (or potassium) and melted (T < 1450o C) to obtain a ceramic-glass with wollastonite as the major phase. Thermal differential analysis (ATD) will be used to determine glass transition and crystallization temperatures. With these information ceramic-glasses will be prepared and submitted to x-ray diffraction analysis to identify the phases evolution during the heat treatment. The controlled crystallization will be performed on glass powders by using DTA at several different heating rates. The glass crystallization kinetic will be evaluated using non-isothermal methods according to Ligero, Kissinger and Matusita methods. These non-isothermal methods are based on the JMA (Johnson-Mehl-Avrami) isothermal method and provide the kinetic parameters which are associated with the glass nucleation and crystallization mechanisms. Physical and chemical properties of the glass and ceramic-glass will be provided by analytical methods. (AU)