Nonisothermal Nucleation in the Solid Solution CuCl in Glass: Temperature Range of the Formation of Supercritical Nuclei of CuCl Phase

Abstract

It is established both experimentally and by calculations that the nuclei of CuCl phase do not form in the solid solution of CuCl in the glass at the temperature T_u ≥ 600°C. At the temperature of 500°C, nuclei do not form due to a low diffusion coefficient. In the temperature range of 500–600°C maximums of the flow of new clusters and the critical radius are almost at the same temperature. The supersaturation is minimal in the area of maximum. The experimental dependence of the formation rate of CuCl clusters on temperature is in a good agreement with the calculated one. It is shown that the concentration of nuclei, its average radius, and the width of distribution by radii can be effectively controlled using the cooling “on the top.” The narrow distributions of CuCl clusters in the glass with the relative half-width of about 3.7% are obtained.