Kinetic studies of melting, crystallization, and glass formation

Abstract

Fast scanning calorimetry (FSC) offers new capabilities to explore previously inaccessible domains of reaction kinetics due to the expanded heating and cooling rates compared to conventional calorimetry methods. With this capability it is now possible to explore ranges of alloy metastability and to examine rapid kinetic reactions such as melting and the competition between crystallization and glass formation. These capabilities are demonstrated for the melting of phases in Pb-Bi alloys, the analysis of crystallization kinetics in a chalcogenide phase change memory alloy, the glass-to-liquid transition and crystallization of ultrastable nanoglasses, and the investigation of vitrification in a difficult glass forming metallic alloy and organic liquids that can be used to expand the accessible temperature range for the study of crystallization reactions. These areas offer many opportunities for the application of FSC to provide a new insight into the kinetics of metastable phases.