Ordered coalescence of nano-crystals during rapid solidification of ceramic melts

Abstract

Rapid cooling of an aluminosilicate–zirconia melt after laser sintering results in the formation of zirconia nano-crystals and dendritic zirconia crystals embedded in a glass matrix. The nano-crystals act as building blocks for the formation of non-faceted secondary crystals. Several secondary crystals built from two or a few nano-crystals with perfect structural coherence across the interface have been observed. Thus, the earliest states of these secondary crystals have been preserved by rapid cooling. Crystal growth can be described by a mechanism, ordered coalescence, which is characterized by self-assembly of nano-crystals combined with atom-by-atom growth and links classical and non-classical crystallization.