Sintering behavior and devitrification kinetics of iron containing clinopyroxene based magnetic glass-ceramics

The present study deals with the design, synthesis and characterization of magnetic glass-ceramics along diopside (CaMgSi₂O₆)- aegirine (NaFeSi₂O₆) join targeted towards their final application as thermoseeds in hyperthermia. The glass-ceramics were prepared from the sintering and crystallization of glass powders obtained through melt-quenching technique. The sintering behavior of glass powders was studied by hot-stage microscopy (HSM) while differential thermal analysis (DTA) was used to study the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of the as prepared glasses. In order to analyze the crystallization behavior of glasses, the glass powder compacts were sintered at 900 °C for 1 h under non-isothermal conditions. The qualitative as well as quantitative crystalline phase analysis of glass-ceramics has been made by X-ray diffraction (XRD)-adjoined with Rietveld-RIR technique. Augite crystallized as the primary phase in all the compositions. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to shed light on the microstructure of the glass-ceramics while the magnetic properties of glass-ceramics were studied by vibration sample magnetometer (VSM). All the investigated glass-ceramics exhibited ferromagnetic behavior the intensity of which increased with increase in Fe content in the samples. The dependence of magnetic properties on the composition of glass-ceramics has been explained.