The vitrification of alkali borate and alkali silicate melts

Glasses and crystals of compositions corresponding to the congruently melting compounds M₂O·2SiO₂ (M = Na. Rb, and Cs) and M₂O·4SiO₂ (M = K, Rb, and Cs) were studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The structure temperatures (T _f) and excess entropies at T _f of glasses were measured depending on the rate of cooling of the corresponding melts. The activation energies of glass formation (ΔE) and scale of cooperative motion in the transition region (ξ_a) were estimated. The totality of the data obtained were used to compare the thermodynamic (the ratio between the excess (with respect to the corresponding crystals) entropy of glass at T _f and the entropy of crystal melting), kinetic (fragility m = f(ΔE, T _f)), and microscopic (ξ_a) parameters of the vitrification of alkali silicate melts. The behaviors of alkali silicate and alkali borate melts were shown to be similar.