Glass ceramic form

Figure 9.3 Schematic morphology of a glass-ceramic formed (a) by spinodal decomposition and (b) by a nucleation/growth process...

The previous discussion has centered on how to obtain as much molecular mass and chemical structure information as possible from a given sample. However, there are many uses of mass spectrometry where precise isotope ratios are needed and total molecular mass information is unimportant. For accurate measurement of isotope ratio, the sample can be vaporized and then directed into a plasma torch. The sample can be a gas or a solution that is vaporized to form an aerosol, or it can be a solid that is vaporized to an aerosol by laser ablation. Whatever method is used to vaporize the sample, it is then swept into the flame of a plasma torch. Operating at temperatures of about 5000 K and containing large numbers of gas ions and electrons, the plasma completely fragments all substances into ionized atoms within a few milliseconds. The ionized atoms are then passed into a mass analyzer for measurement of their atomic mass and abundance of isotopes. Even intractable substances such as glass, ceramics, rock, and bone can be examined directly by this technique. 

The U.S. Bureau of Mines has employed glass for forming ceramic materials at high temperatures (75). The viscosity curve for a soda—lime—siUca glass in Figure 19 indicates the high viscosity available at hot forming temperatures. 

Glass-ceramics are a family of materials that are polycrystalline in nature and are formed from the liquid or glassy state. A glass-ceramic article is made by the heat treatment of a vitreous body in two stages ... 

Kokubo, T., Ito, S., Huang, Z.T., Hayashi, T., Sakka, S., Kitsugi, T. and Yamamuro, T. (1990) Ca, P-rich layer formed on high-strength bioactive glass-ceramic A-W. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 24, 331-343. 

---