Abstract:

In this study Apatite - wollastonite glass - ceramic production was made and characterization studies were carried out. For the production of A-W glass ceramics, CaO, SiO2, P2O5, MgO, Al2O3 and CaF2 compounds were used and powder composition was prepared by calculating the weight ratios. The mixture was melted in an alumina crucible for 1 hour at a temperature above 1400°C. To maintain the amorphous structure of the glass melt at room temperature, it was cooled over critical cooling rate by pouring into water. The resulting frit powders were ball milled and pressed into a steel die to produce pellets. After all, the pellets were sintered above 1000°C to obtain a stiff bulk material with crystalline structure as desired. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) analysis was performed to determine the chemical composition of the product. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for the microstructure analysis of the samples and dilatometer analysis was carried out to find dimensional expansion or shrinkage value. To detect the phase content of the final product, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) was performed to determine the main phases and secondary phases formed in the structure. The final bulk materials had the chemical composition and microstructure of A-W when compared with previous works (reference products). SEM analysis revealed that the microstructure had very low porosity level.

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