The effect of pH on the growth of the {100} faces of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate crystals

The velocity and shape of growth layers on the {100} faces of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP) crystals growing in aqueous solution at pH = 5.0 are compared with those previously reported for growth at pH = 3.8. The results are interpreted in terms of the adsorption of hydrated hydroxonium ions on the crystal surface.     

Direct melt crystal growth of isotactic polybutene‐1 trigonal phase

The morphology, crystalline structure and crystal growth kinetics of melt‐crystallized thin isotactic polybutene‐1 films have been studied with transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction and optical microscopy. It is demonstrated that a bypass of tetragonal phase crystallization and direct melt crystal growth of the trigonal phase can be achieved via self‐seeding at atmospheric pressure using solution‐grown trigonal crystals as nuclei. Electron microscopy and optical microscopy observations show that melt‐crystallized isotactic polybutene‐1 single crystals of the trigonal phase have rounded or hexagonal morphologies around 75°C. The growth rate of trigonal crystals in the melt has been obtained by in‐situ optical microscopy. The growth rate of trigonal crystals in the melt is 1/100 and 1/1000 that of tetragonal crystals in the melt around 70 and 90°C, respectively. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Growth investigations of single crystal sulphates containing molecular glycine groups

Investigations on the optimalisation of the growth conditions of single crystals containing molecular glycine groups were performed and depending on the pH-value of the solution, crystals of triglycine sulphate, diglycine sulphate or diglycine sulphate monohydrate can be grown. The optimal pH-value for triglycine sulphate growing was found to be 1.5.     

Influence of Bacillus subtilis on the growth of calcium oxalate

The influence of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) on the nucleation, growth and aggregation of calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystals in aqueous solution has been studied. The crystals obtained were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X‐ray powder diffractometry. The results show that, in the presence of B. subtilis, quasi‐hexagonal calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM) crystals are obtained after 24 hours of reaction at a temperature of 30°C ± 1K. However, without the presence of the bacteria, irregular CaOx crystals were obtained which contain two crystal phases: COM and calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD). This suggests that B. subtilis may promote the crystallization of COM, the major component of urinary stone. The formation mechanism of CaOx crystals in the presence of B. subtilis is explored, indicating that the cell walls and extracellular proteins of the bacteria may act as templates to induce the nucleation, growth and aggregation of CaOx crystals. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An electrolytic method to grow copper dendrites and single crystals in gels

A new electrolytic method for the growth of any metallic crystal in gel by using gel as a medium for controlled growth, is reported. Different types of large dendrites and single crystals of copper were grown by electrolytic method in the gel medium. It is found that pH of the gel medium, the concentration of the supernatant solution, the current density and the electrode material used, have considerable influence on the habits of the dendrites and the single crystals thus grown. The surface features and morphology of crystals and dendrites were studied by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Compared to other conventional electrolytic growth techniques, the present method has a number of additional parameters that can be varied, and hence a more effective controlled growth of crystals is possible.     

Study of growth kinetics of ammonium oxalate monohydrate crystals from aqueous solutions

Experimental results of the dependence of linear growth rates of ammonium oxalate monohydrate [(NH₄)₂C₂O₄ · H₂O; AO] single crystals on solution supersaturation are presented. The AO crystals were grown by constant-temperature, constant-supersaturation method at 30 and 40 °C in the supersaturation range of 1–9%. It was observed that the supersaturation dependence of growth rates follows the parabolic growth law. Analysis of the supersaturation dependence of linear growth rates of AO crystals showed (1) that growth models involving surface diffusion and direct incorporation of growth units give kinetic parameters similar to those reported for other compounds grown from solutions, and (2) that the the BCF model of cooperating screw dislocations is also applicable. An inverse relationship between the estimated values of the length, L, of the line containing the dislocations and growth rate, R, and a direct relationship between L and interplanar distance, d_hkl, of the face {hkl} were found. Both these relationships are associated with the process of generation of screw dislocations in the growing layer.     

The influence of γ-irradiation on ferroelectric and polarization properties of TGS crystals

The experimental investigation of pyroelectric and polarization properties of TGS crystals was made. TGS crystals were grown under constant growth conditions (temperature and supersaturation of the solution) and γ-irradiated in a wide range of irradiation. The influence of γ-irradiation on the quality parameter M₂ of crystals, on the form of hysteresis loops, on size of spontaneous polarization and shifting field was ascertained.     

Züchtung von (Pb1–xSnx) Te durch Sublimationstechnik

In a horizontal 2-zone resistance furnace nearly ideally formed crystals were grown at the end of an evacuated ampoule, using temperatures between 750 and 720°C, a ΔT of 15 to 10 deg between the rooms of the solution and growth. When applying single heating zone and special conditions good crystals were grown by the use of a quartz rod or a quartz plate as nucleation center. — Finally analytical data on the products of growing are given.     

The growth kinetics of barium sulphate crystals in suspension: Scale prevention (I)

The growth process of barium of sulfate crystals suspended in a supersaturated solution has been studied conductometrically. The mean linear rate R̄ has been plotted as a function of the growth affinity — Δμ/RT. A first attempt has been made to fit the experimental growth data in the highest supersaturation range with surface nucleation models.     

Part 1: Kinetics and mechanism of the crystallization process

The kinetics of spontaneous crystallization of sodium chloride from aqueous‐ethanol solutions were studied. During the crystallization the electrical conductance and optical transmission of the supersaturated solutions were measured automatically. For monitoring of the total surface of growing potassium chloride crystals at the crystallization the turbidimetric method was used. The growth rate and activation energy were determined. The crystal growth rate was proportional to supersaturation. When the volume fraction of ethanol in solution increased from 14.85 to 29.72%, the activation energy of the growth process did not change and was about 50 kJ· mol^‐1. Aggregation of the crystals was found. The aggregation kinetics of the crystals may be described approximately by the famous Smoluchowski equation for coagulation of colloidal particles. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Kinetics of etching of dislocations in magnesium orthosilicate single crystals

Cleavages of undoped, doped and natural magnesium orthosilicate crystals have been simultaneously etched in concentrated hydrochloric acid solution. The lateral and normal velocities of the growth of pits were then measured at different temperatures for the varieties of crystals. The time dependence of the growth of pit dimensions is found to be linear, while the temperature dependence of the growth of pits is found to be exponential, viz. V = A exp (− E/kT). The dissolution parameters, e. g. the activation energy (E) and the pre-exponential factor (A) for dissolution along the surface and along the dislocation lines have been computed. It is observed that: (1) the activation energy (E₁) of dissolution along [001] direction is found to be greater than the activation energy (E_b) along [100] direction, irrespective of whether the crystals are doped, undoped or natural, and (2) the doping of the crystal with manganese has lowered down the activation energy (E_d) to such an extent that it is less than E₁ and E_b. The implications are discussed.     

Effect of Ampoule Rotation on Growth of InGaAs Ternary Bulk Crystals from Solution

In_xGa_1-xAs (x = 0.045) ternary bulk crystals were grown on GaAs seeds from an In–Ga–As solution by the temperature-difference method modified to rotate a growth ampoule. The effect of ampoule rotation on the profiles of the composition and the growth rate were investigated. The In compositional profiles were uniform irrespective of the ampoule rotation. On the other hand, the growth rate at the center of the crystal increased from 40 μm/h at 0 rpm to 55 μm/h at 100 rpm. The profile of growth rate changed from concave to convex toward the seed due to the ampoule rotation. Flow patterns and compositional profiles in the solution were simulated by solving four equations: Navier-Stokes, continuity, energy, and solute diffusion. The ampoule rotation enhanced the transportation of As component from the GaAs feed toward the seed at the central region in the solution. This led to the increase of the growth rate.     

Morphology of β-BaB2O4 (BBO) Crystals in Relation to its Structure and Growth Conditions

β-BaB₂O₄ (BBO) crystals with well-defined morphology have been grown from Na₂O solutions using the top seeded solution growth (TSSG) method. The crystal morphology in relation to its structure and growth conditions has been studied in detail on the basis of crystallography and crystal chemistry. It is found that the morphological characteristics are related to the orientations of structural unit (B₃O₆)^3— anion rings in the crystal. On the other hand, the growth parameters may greatly affect the appearance of faces of the crystal, but the crystals still generally take trigonal in outline and have a diagnostic character of point group 3m. The observed morphology is in disagreement with BFDH and PBC analyses and is explained from the incorporation of the growth units on the faces and facets. Since the incorporation rates of the growth units are different on different faces, the boule habits with well-defined morphology are formed.     

Structural and microhardness studies of pure and thiourea doped glycine phosphite single crystal

Ferroelectric Glycine Phosphite (GPI) crystal have been grown from aqueous solution employing the slow cooling technique. As the crystal solubility in water depends on temperature, single crystals were grown. Transparent, colourless crystals with habit morphology weighing about 8g were obtained with in a month. The same procedure was used to grow single crystals of 10 wt% of Thiourea doped GPI (TUGPI). Formation of a new crystal was confirmed by Powder X‐ray diffraction studies as well as FTIR studies. Crystalline quality were found using rocking curve for both the crystals. Due to the presence of Thiourea in TUGPI, it improves the crystalline perfection and also enhances the growth rate. The variation of hardness on (010) faces of monoclinic GPI and TUGPI crystals, with load were studied.Vickers hardness numbers, H_v were found to decrease with the increase in load. The value of Mayer's index, ‘n ’ was found to be greater than 1.6 for GPI and TUGPI showing soft‐material category. The results are discussed in detail. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Investigation of the Solution Status of TGS and ATGSP Crystals

This paper reports on the solubility curves of TGS and ATGSP crystals with different pH's. The relationship of (010) growth rate in solutions with different pH varied with the supersaturation, has been studied. The influence of pH on the metastable region of solution have been measured. The experimential results are discussed with respect to the structure and viscosity of solution and the solubility of the crystals. Finally the optimum conditions for the rapid growth of TGS and ATGSP crystals is given.     

Optical defects in barium—strontium niobate single crystals

The distributions of edge dislocations and residual mechanical stresses in Ba_xSr_1-xNb₂O₆ (BSN) crystals are investigated and the explanation of the nature of the “growth column” is proposed. The “growth column” is a defect zone going through all of the crystal and usually repeating in its cross-section the contour of the seed crystal. The “growth column” boundary is the closed contour with extremely high edge dislocation density. These dislocations are connected with thermal stresses due to seed-melt contact or abrupt crystal widening. Under proper crystal seeding and widening conditions one can obtain the BSN crystals with dislocation densities less than 10 cm⁻² and without the “growth column”. The method of chemico-mechanical polishing of BSN crystals not forming a defect layer on the surface of the crystals have been developed. The high temperature diffusion annealing is shown to eliminate the growth striae in BSN crystals.     

Growing of TGS and TGSe single crystals at various pH of solution

The influence of pH of solution on growth rates of the faces (001), (010), (100) and habit of TGS and TGSe single crystals was studied. The pH-values were determined when growth of TGS and TGSe crystals was ceased. At pH < 1 diglycine sulphate (DGS) and at pH < 2 diglycine selenate (DGSe) crystals are growing. The permittivity and resistivity of DGS and DGSe were measured. The resistivity of DGSe is an order of magnitude less than of TGSe for the same temperature. The possible mechanism of change of crystal morfology vs pH, supersaturation of solution and growth temperature is proposed.     

Investigation of growth kinetics and morphology of sodium fluorosilicate ice‐analogue crystals in solutions and gels

The effect of growth method (solution or gel growth) and growth conditions on the morphology of ice analogue crystals (sodium fluorosilicate) has been studied. Many habits typical for atmospheric ice crystals (hexagonal columns, plates, different types of stars or dendrites) were obtained during experiments. The dependence of growth rate of basal and prism faces of columnar crystals on supersaturation was measured for crystals growing by evaporation of solvent. The experiments establish evaporation rate and growth rate ranges at which appearance of certain types of crystals is most probable. The experiments have also shown that good quality sodium fluorosilicate crystals can be obtained in TMS gel. These crystals were significantly bigger than those obtained in solution. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the Presence of Faces in the Habit of Growing Crystals

Presence and size of a face in the habit are conditioned by the value of relative growth velocity R_A/R_{crit A} with respect to the critical growth velocity. It has been established that during the growth of crystals only certain values of relative growth velocities R_A/R_{crit A} occur. Faces of KBC crystals realize values of R_A/R_{crit A} between 0 and 2. Unity is the demarcation level below which appearance and above which disappearance of faces takes place. Edges and corners of crystals are places where new faces appear during changes in growth conditions.     

Determination of the distribution coefficient of Pb in NaCl crystals by estimation of the lead concentration from the optical absorption in aqueous solutions

It is shown that the intensity of a UV absorption band of lead ions in aqueous solution of NaCl is linear dependent on the concentration of lead. This can be developed to a simple determination method of lead in NaCl crystals even in the ppm region. Its application on melt grown NaCl:PbCl₂ crystals was used for a calculation of the distribution coefficient, for which was found k = 0.24. Furthermore it could be shown that an essential part of lead is evaporated from the melt before the growth process starts so that the real initial concentrations are drastically lower than the nominal concentrations of the melts.